MARKING 

THE  OREGON  TRAIL 

THE  BOZEMAN  ROAD 

AND 

HISTORIC  PLACES 

IN 

WYOMING 
1908-1920 


PRESENTED  BY 

THE  DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 
OF  WYOMING 


STATE  REGENTS  OF  THE 

DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION, 
WYOMING 


MRS.  H.  B.  PATTEN,  Cheyenne,  1912-1914 
GRACE  RAYMOND  HEBARD,  Laramie,  1914-1916 
MRS.  EDWARD  GILLETTE,  Sheridan,  1916-1918 
MRS.  BRYANT  B.  BROOKS,  Casper,  1918-1922 


WYOMING  OREGON  TRAIL  COMMISSION 


CAPTAIN  H.  G.  NICKERSON,  Lander,  President,  1913-1921 
MRS.  H.  B.  PATTEN,  Cheyenne,  Secretary,  1913-1915 
A.  J.  PARSHALL,  Cheyenne,  1913-1915 
MRS.  J.  T.  SNOW,  Torrington,  1915-1921 
GRACE  RAYMOND  HEBARD,  Secretary,  1915-1921 


Report  prepared  by 
GRACE  RAYMOND  HEBARD 

State  Historian  of  the  Wyoming  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution 
Secretary  of  the  Wyoming  Oregon  Trail  Commission 
State  Historian  of  the  Wyoming  Colonial  Dames. 


The  Marking  of  Trails  and  Historic  Places 

BY  THE 

Oregon  Trail  Commission  of  Wyoming 

THE 

Daughters  and  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution 

AND 

CITIZENS  OF  WYOMING 

It  seems  entirely  appropriate  that  the  organization  known  as  the  Wyoming 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  should  present  this  report  of  its  activities 
in  the  State  of  Wyoming  during  the  past  ten  years,  for  the  reason  that  this  organi- 
zation was  responsible  to  a  large  degree  for  the  introduction  of  a  bill,  in  the 
Twelfth  State  Legislature  in  1913,  which  became  a  law  and  established  the 
Wyoming  Oregon  Trail  Commission.  The  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution 
assisted  in  the  work  to  obtain  the  Trail  Commission,  as  did  other  interested  citizens 
of  Wyoming. 

The  text  of  the  law,  Session  Laws,  1913,  page  24,  Chapter  29,  reads  as 
follows: 

MARKING  THE  OLD  OREGON  TRAIL. 

SECTION  1.  The  Old  Oregon  Trail  and  historic  landmarks  in  the  State  of 
Wyoming  shall  be  marked  by  appropriate  markers  under  the  supervision  of  a  com- 
mission of  three  members,  the  same  to  serve  without  compensation,  to  be  appointed 
by  the  Governor;  Proz-idcd,  That  no  indebtedness  shall  be  contracted  or  incurred 
hereunder  beyond  the  actual  amount  in  the  hands  of  the  State  Treasurer  appro- 
priated for  the  payment  thereof. 

SEC.  2.  The  appropriation  provided  for  herein  shall  be  paid  out  only  on  certified 
vouchers,  granted  in  like  form,  approved  by  the  said  commission,  and  the  State 
Auditor  is  hereby  authorized  to  draw  warrants  on  the  State  Treasurer  for  the 
expends  provided  by  this  act  upon  certified  and  approved  vouchers  as  herein  pro- 
vided, but  no  such  warrant  shall  be  drawn  for  any  amount  in  excess  of  the  amount 
that  may  be  at  the  time  in  the  State  Treasury,  appropriated  for  that  purpose. 

SEC.  3.  Any  person  who  shall  destroy,  deface,  remove  or  injure  any  monument 
or  marker  erected  as  herein  provided  for,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  upon 
conviction  thereof,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars,  or 
by  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  for  a  period  not  less  than  thirty  days  nor  more 
than  ninety  days,  or  both  by  such  fine  and  imprisonment  at  the  discretion  of  the 
court. 

Approved  February  20,  1913. 

For  the  first  year  of  the  existence  of  the  Trail  Commission  the  Legislature 
generously  appropriated  the  sum  of  $2.500,  with  which  a  large  number  of 
markers  were  purchased  and  located  in  different  parts  of  the  State,  The  Legis- 
latures following  1913  appropriated  the  sum  of  $500  at  each  Session. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


The  Wyoming  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  did  not  initiate  the 
movement  for  trail  marking;  in  fact,  they  were  somewhat  tardy  in  their  activities 
for  this  purpose,  for  several  states  through  which  old  trails  ran  had  received  gen- 
erous appropriations  from  their  Legislatures  for  this  historical  work  of  trail  and 
site  marking  before  the  year  of  1913.  Special  reference  is  made  to  marking  the 
greatest  of  all  trails,  the  Oregon,  the  southern  trail  of  Santa  Fe,  and  other  trails 
leading  to  the  West. 

The  State  of  Missouri  in  1909  made  an  appropriation  sufficiently  large  to 
enable  the  D.  A.  R.  of  that  State  to  mark  the  Santa  Fe  Trail  from  eastern  to 
western  boundaries;  Kansas  has  placed  eighty-nine  markers  in  that  State  along 
this  trail ;  New  Mexico  in  1  909  received  a  Legislative  appropriation  for  markers 
to  be  located  in  that  State  along  this  old  merchants'  road,  and  Colorado,  in  1912, 
completed  the  trail  of  markers  which  runs  from  Independence,  Missouri,  the  start- 
ing point  of  both  the  Santa  Fe  and  the  Oregon  Trails,  to  the  sleepy  interior  city 
of  Santa  Fe,  seven  hundred  and  seventy  miles  to  the  southwest,  a  marker  being  set 
at  about  every  seven  miles  the  entire  length  of  the  Santa  Fe  Trail. 

As  the  southern  trail  to  the  West  was  outlined  by  stones,  markers  and  monu- 
ments, so  the  more  northern,  or  central  one,  the  Oregon  Trail,  has  been  traced 
along  its  length  of  two  thousand  and  twenty  miles.  The  states  east  and  west  of 
Wyoming  through  which  the  trail  passed  have  marked  this  homeseekers'  road  from 
Independence  to  the  Oregon  country.  Wyoming  has  finished  the  gap  that  repre- 
sented the  trail  within  the  boundaries  of  Wyoming. 

The  report  here  presented  delineates  the  activities  of  the  Daughters  and  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution,  public-spirited  citizens,  and  the  Oregon  Trail  Com- 
mission of  Wyoming.  Too  much  praise  cannot  be  given  to  the  President  of  the 
Commission,  Capt.  H.  G.  Nickerson,  of  Lander,  who  from  1 9 1  3  to  1 92 1  has 
not  only  assisted  in  locating  trails  and  historic  sites  and  battelfields,  but  has 
traveled  on  foot,  by  wagon,  by  horse  and  automobile  into  the  territory  that  is  lo- 
cated west  of  Casper  to  Cokeville  and  from  Ft.  Washakie  in  the  central  part  of  the 
State  to  the  Union  Pacific  railroad  to  the  south.  Here  and  there  Captain  Nicker- 
son has  placed  stones,  boulders  and  slabs  of  native  material  on  which  he,  in  the 
open,  has  carved  with  his  chisels  and  mallet  inscriptions  and  notations.  No  task 
has  been  too  difficult  for  Captain  Nickerson  to  undertake,  no  distance  too  long  to 
journey,  in  order  to  locate  sites  off  of  the  Oregon  Trail,  no  weather  too  disagreeable? 
no  mosquitoes  too  numerous  to  make  him  waver  in  this  service  for  the  State.  Not 
only  has  Captain  Nickerson  helped  to  make  the  history  of  Wyoming  since  the  year 
of  1  866,  but  he  has  assisted  in  writing  Wyoming's  history  on  these  stones  and 
boulders. 

Mr.  A.  J.  Parshall,  through  his  long  residence  in  Wyoming  and  his  experi- 
ences as  a  civil  engineer,  contributed  greatly  to  the  value  of  the  Oregon  Trail 
Commission,  a  value  beyond  an  expression  in  words.  To  Mrs.  H.  B.  Patten, 
through  whose  extensive  and  painstaking  reports  this  report  is  made  possible,  words 
of  commendation  are  gratefully  given  for  her  efficient  work.  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Snow  (Mrs.  J.  T.),  of  Torrington,  through  her  interest  in  the  work  arid  her 
many  years  of  citizenship  in  Wyoming,  has  been  a  valuable  and  helpful  member 
of  the  Commission.  All  of  the  Chapters  of  the  Wyoming  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution,  Cheyenne,  Laramie,  Sheridan,  and  Casper,  and  the  Wyo- 
ming Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  have  not  only  cooperated  in  the  marking 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


and  site  selecting  work  and  giving  financial  aid  to  the  cause,  but  have  given 
unstintingly  of  their  time  in  the  support  of  this  movement. 

To  Governor  Joseph  M.  Carey,  during  whose  administration  the  Oregon 
Trail  Commission  was  created,  to  Governor  John  B.  Kendrick,  and  to  Governor 
Robert  D.  Carey,  and  the  members  of  the  Legislature  of  and  since  1913,  a 
tribute  of  appreciation  is  here  given.  They  all  have  made  the  work  of  preserving 
history  for  Wyoming  a  possibility. 


FETTERMAN  MONUMENT 

The  most  substantial  of  monuments  placed  in  Wyoming  to  commemorate 
deeds  of  valor  and  sacrifice  is  the  marker  placed  on  the  summit  of  ''Massacre 
Hill"  in  Johnson  County  near  the  boundry  line  between  Johnson  and  Sheridan 
Counties,  north  and  west  of  the  site  of  Fort  Phil  Kearney.  Through  the  efforts 
of  Congressman  Frank  W.  Mondell,  an  appropriation  was  obtained  from  the 
government  to  mark  the  site  of  a  battle  waged  between  eighty-one  soldiers  and 
civilians,  under  Captain  Fetterman,  and  Red  Cloud  and  his  warriors.  In  the 
combat  of  December  21,  1 866,  there  were  thousands  of  Indians  against  these 
eighty-one  whites.  No  wonder  there  were  "no  survivors".  The  redman  fought 
for  the  possession  of  his  luxuriant  grazing  and  hunting  grounds,  the  land  which 
had  been  exclusively  used  by  Indians  "since  the  time  of  man  runneth  not".  The 
whiteman  was  fighting  under  government  orders  for  the  use  of  the  land  as  a  road 
leading  to  the  goldfields  near  Virginia  City,  Montana. 

Although  the  monument  was  erected  many  years  ago,  it  was  not  dedicated 
until  July  3,  1908,  when  Gen.  H.  B.  Carrington,  who  was  commander  from 
1 866  to  1 868  of  Fort  Phil  Kearney,  Fort  Reno  and  Fort  C.  F.  Smith,  all  on  the 
Bozeman  Trail,  which  crossed  and  recrossed  the  land  of  the  Sioux,  took  part  in 
the  ceremonies  of  the  day,  as  did  Hon.  F.  W.  Mondell,  Mr.  William  Daly,  Sr., 
who  had  helped  to  fashion  the  flag  pole  for  the  garrison  in  July,  1866,  and 
Sergeant  S.  S.  Gibson  and  Mr.  William  Murphy,  who  were  stationed  at  Fort 
Phil  Kearney  during  the  troublesome  days  in  the  Powder  River  country. 

The  monument  is  made  of  native  cobblestones  set  in  cement.  On  the  side 
toward  the  wagon  road  is  a  large  bronze  shield  on  which  are  blazoned  the 
following: 

ON  THIS  FIELD  ON  THE  2 1ST  DAY  OF 

DECEMBER,  1866, 
THREE  COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS  AND 

SEVENTY-SIX  PRIVATES 
OF  THE  18TH  U.  S.  INFANTRY  AND  OF  THE 

2ND  U.  S.  CAVALRY  AND  TWO  CIVILIANS 

UNDER  THE  COMMAND  OF  CAPTAIN  BREVET- 

LIEUTENANT  COLONEL  WILLIAM  J.  FETTERMAN 

WERE  KILLED  BY  AN  OVERWHELMING 
FORCE  OF  SIOUX  UNDER  THE  COMMAND  OF 

RED  CLOUD. 
THERE  WERE  NO  SURVIVORS. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


SACAJAWEA 

Sacajawea,  the  little  Shoshone  Indian  woman  guide  to  Lewis  and  Clark  on 
their  expedition  across  the  country  to  the  Pacific  Coast  in  1 805-06,  lived  for 
many  years,  after  the  return  of  the  expedition,  in  the  country  now  embraced  in  the 
State  of  Wyoming.  Sacajawea  and  her  two  sons,  Bazil  and  Baptiste,  lived  in 
the  region  of  the  Wind  River  Mountains,  where  she  died  and  was  given  a  Chris- 
tian burial.  On  April  9,  1 884,  Rev.  John  Roberts,  missionary  to  the  Indians 
in  the  Wind  River  and  Shoshone  Reservation,  performed  the  ritual  for  the  burial 
of  the  Indian  guide,  she  being  at  the  time  of  her  death  one  hundred  years  of  age. 

After  establishing  beyond  a  question  of  doubt  that  this  Indian  woman  was  at 
one  time  the  young  Indian  guide  for  Lewis  and  Clark,  a  monument,  in  1 909, 
through  the  efforts  of  Miss  Hebard,  who  had  located  the  last  resting  place  of 
Sacajewea,  was  erected  over  the  guide's  grave.  The  cement  marker  was  erected 
by  Superintendent  Wadsworth,  then  of  the  Indian  Agency.  In  this  cement  a 
bronze  tablet  has  been  placed  which  was  donated  by  the  late  Hon.  Timothy  F. 
Burke,  at  that  time  a  Trustee  of  the  University  of  Wyoming. 


SACAJAWEA 

DIED  APRIL,  1 884 

A  GUIDE  WITH  THE 

LEWIS  AND  CLARK  EXPEDITION 

1805-1806 

IDENTIFIED  1909  BY  REV.  J.  ROBERTS 
WHO  OFFICIATED  AT  HER  BURIAL. 


FREMONT  MARKER  ON  THE  LARAMIE  PLAINS 
General  John  Charles  Fremont  was  sent  by  our  government  into  the  West 
to  establish,  or  survey,  a  possible  route  for  a  transcontinental  railway  through  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  He  made  five  such  expeditions  to  the  West,  three  for  the 
government  and  two  privately  financed.  In  1 843  Fremont  and  his  men,  with 
Kit  Carson  for  a  guide,  marched  into  what  is  now  Wyoming  by  the  way  of 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


Colorado  into  Albany  County,  establishing  one  of  his  temporary  camps  about 
four  miles  South  of  the  present  day  city  of  Laramie.  These  men  blazed  a  way 
to  the  Northwest  across  the  Laramie  Plains,  journeying  just  North  of  Sheep 
Mountain.  About  August  1,  1843,  the  party  was  12  miles  West  of  Laramie, 
having  had  on  that  day  an  exciting  chase  after  buffalo  and  encountering  a  band 
of  Sioux  and  Cheyenne  Indians,  who,  however,  did  not  challenge  the  white  man's 
journey  over  their  hunting  grounds. 

The  trail  made  by  General  Fremont  and  his  men  became  in  1 862  a  part  of 
the  Overland  Route,  which  ran  along  the  southern  tier  of  counties  in  Wyoming 
to  old  Fort  Bridger.  Where  this  trail  of  Fremont's  expedition  and  the  Overland 
road  crosses,  only  in  dim  outline  today,  the  Colorado,  Wyoming  and  Eastern 
Railroad  on  the  Laramie  Plains,  the  Jacques  Laramie  Chapter  of  the  Daughters  of 
the  American  Revolution  (of  Laramie)  erected  a  monument  of  grey  Salida  granite. 
The  stone  was  at  the  time  of  its  dedication  placed  in  cement  on  the  ground,  but 
subsequently  the  Oregon  Trail  Commission  had  the  stone  raised  several  feet  from 
the  earth  by  a  cement  foundation.  The  location  is  in  Sec.  34,  T.  16,  R.  75, 
between  "Plains"  and  "Millbrook"  stations. 

At  the  unveiling  of  this  marker  on  July  1,  1911,  the  exercises  were  con- 
ducted by  Mrs.  C.  P.  Arnold,  Acting  Regent  of  the  Jacques  Laramie  Chapter, 
and  Mrs.  William  Reed,  the  Chaplain  of  the  D.  A.  R.  At  this  dedication,  as 
all  other  unveiling  ceremonies,  the  program  consisted  of  rehgicuj,  patriotic  and 
historical  exercises,  prayer,  national  songs  and  addresses.  The  main  address  was 
given  by  Miss  Grace  Raymond  Hebard,  ex-Chapter  Regent  of  the  D.  A.  R., 
on  "Trail  Breakers". 


THE  FIRST  STONE 
ERECTED  IN  ALBANY  CO. 

TO  MARK  THE 
OLD  OVERLAND  TRAIL 

1862-1868 

ERECTED  BY 
JACQUES  LARAMIE  CHAPTER 

DAUGHTERS  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

LARAMIE.  WYOMING 
1911 


Unveiling  the  marker  on  the  Laramie  Plaint 
where  Fremont's  survey  of  IMS.  which  In  the 
sixties  became  a  part  of  the  Overland  Route, 
crosses  the  track  of  the  Colorado.  Wyoming 
and  Eastern  Railway,  twelve  miles  West  of 
the  city  of  Laramie.  Ceremony  under  the 
direction  of  the  Jacques  Laramie  Chapter  of 
the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution. 
July  1.  1911.  Left  to  right.  Miss  Amy  Abbot, 
Miss  Grace  Raymond  Hebard.  Mrs.  R.  E. 
Fitch.  Mrs.  J.  H.  Abbot.  Mrs.  F.  Blake.  Mrs. 
George  Patterson.  Mrs.  James  Mathison.  Mrs. 
Arnold  Bode.  Mrs.  C.  P.  Arnold  (Acting 
Regent),  and  Mrs.  Frank  W.  Lee. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL  ON  THE  NEBRASKA-WYOMING 

BOUNDARY 


OREGON  TRAIL 

MARKED  BY  THE 

NEBRASKA  AND  WYOMING 

SONS  AND  DAUGHTERS 

OF  THE 

AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 
1912 


The  Nebraska-Wyoming  Marker,  placed  on  the 
boundary  line  where  the  old  Oregon  Trail 
enters  Wyoming. 

The  Sons  and  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  of  Nebraska  and 
Cheyenne,  on  April  4,  1913,  placed  an  imposing  monument  on  the  boundary 
line  between  the  two  states  where  the  old  Oregon  Trail  crossed  the  States'  line, 
in  Tp.  23,  R.  60.  The  .stone  of  granite  is  on  the  South  side  of  the  North 
Platte,  near  the  present  village  of  Henry,  Nebraska.  The  monument,  with  a 
large  cement  base,  is  in  a  field  of  alfalfa,  but  can  be  easily  located  from  the 
established  road  by  the  aid  of  a  stone  "finder"  about  five  feet  high,  which  is  on 
the  main  road.  This  finder  is  on  the  right  hand  side  of  the  road  as  one  travels  to 
the  East.  Near  the  stone  may  be  found  a  gate  leading  to  the  boundary 
monument. 

The  site  of  this  boundary  stone  bears  unusual  significance  aside  from  being 
on  the  trail  and  the  boundary  line  of  two  adjoining  states.  It  was  near  the  site 
of  the  stone  that  in  December,  1812,  a  remnant  of  the  John  Jacob  Astor  over- 
land expedition,  which  had  gone  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  on  its  returning  journey, 
camped  for  several  months  before  pushing  on  to  St.  Louis,  which  had  been  the  point 
of  departure  for  the  West.  In  the  spring  of  1811  A.stor's  party,  under  the 
leadership  of  Wilson  Price  Hunt,  started  from  the  Missouri  river  with  the  pur- 
pose of  establishing  fur  posts  along  the  Missouri,  Snake  and  Columbia  rivers 
west  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  intending  to  follow  the  route  taken  by  Lewis  and 
Clark  in  1 804-'06.  Hunt  encountered  hostile  Indians  in  what  is  now  South 
Dakota  on  his  way  up  the  Missouri,  and,  in  place  of  continuing  to  the  North- 
west, he  deflected  his  course  to  the  Southwest,  passing  through  what  is  now  Wyo- 
ming, through  Crook,  Campbell,  Johnson,  Washakie,  Hot  Springs,  Fremont  and 
Lincoln  Counties  and  out  of  Wyoming  near  the  Snake  river  south  of  the  Teton 
Mountains.  Thus,  these  pioneer  explorers  were  the  first  white  men  to  traverse 
the  lands  in  Wyoming  from  the  eastern  to  the  western  boundaries.  The  follow- 
ing year,  1812,  from  Fort  Astor,  on  the  Pacific  (Oregon),  which  had  been 
established  in  1811  by  the  Astoria  parties,  a  small  party  of  men,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Robert  Stuart,  started  on  a  return  journey  to  St.  Louis.  In  due  course  of 
time  the  party  reached  the  western  boundary  of  our  State.  This  group  of  men 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL. 


also  went  through  Wyoming,  but  from  the  West  to  the  East,  by  the  way  of  the 
Snake,  then  southeast  through  South  Pass  to  the  Sweetwater  and  North  Platte 
rivers.  The  place  where  these  fearless  explorers  went  through  the  rift  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains  is  not  exactly  known,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  these  white 
men  did  go  through  the  pass  somewhat  to  the  South  of  the  road  that  was  estab- 
lished in  the  years  to  come,  and  which  road  was  called  the  Oregon  Trail.  This 
handful  of  Astoria  men,  in  November,  1812,  reached  the  mouth  of  Poison  Spider 
Creek  where  it  empties  into  the  North  Platte,  somewhat  Southwest  of  the  present 
day  city  of  Casper.  Here,  an  early  snowstorm  driving  them  into  winter  camp, 
they  built  a  warm  log  cabin,  the  first  building  to  be  erected  in  Wyoming  by  known 
white  men.  From  this  seemingly  secluded  spot,  the  Indians  discovered  the  white 
men,  eating  them  out  of  house  and  home,  thus  forcing  the  Astorian  to  journey  on 
down  the  Platte,  making  their  winter  camp  near  the  site  of  the  Nebraska- Wyoming 
boundary  monument.  The  return  trip  of  the  Astorian,  a  party  reduced  to  ten 
men  by  the  time  of  the  erection  of  the  Nebraska-Wyoming  winter  quarters,  from 
the  Pacific  to  St.  Louis  was  made  in  ten  months,  a  journey  that  by  train  in  this 
day  may  be  made  in  less  than  three  days. 

On  April  4,  1913,  the  following  program,  in  the  presence  of  four  hundred 
citizens  of  Nebraska  and  Wyoming,  was  presented  at  the  boundary  monument: 

Mr.  H.  G.  Leavitt,  Master  of  Ceremonies;  music  by  the  Torrington  Boys' 
Band ;  Unveiling  the  Monument,  by  Mrs.  Charles  Oliver  Norton,  State  Regent 
of  the  D.  A.  R.  of  Nebraska,  and  Mrs.  H.  B.  Patten,  State  Regent  of  Wyo- 
ming; Presentation  of  the  Monument,  by  Mrs.  Norton;  Acceptance  of  the 
Monument  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  Nebraska,  by  Hon.  C.  S.  Paine,  who 
represented  Governor  Moorehead;  Presentation  of  Monument  by  Wyoming,  by 
Mrs.  H.  B.  Patten,  Secretary  of  the  Wyoming  Oregon  Trail  Commission;  for 
the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  an  address  by  Rev.  Leon  C.  Hills,  of 
Cheyenne ;  Receiving  the  Monument  for  Wyoming,  Hon.  A.  J.  Parshall,  Chey- 
enne; "One  Hundred  Years  Ago",  Dr.  Grace  Raymond  Hebard,  Laramie; 
"The  Pioneer",  an  original  poem,  Mrs.  Alice  Dyer  Nichols,  Henry,  Nebraska. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL  IN  CONVERSE  COUNTY 

The  stone  posts  placed  in  the  Counties  of  Converse,  Goshen,  Johnson,  Platte, 
and  Sheridan,  were  committed  to  the  charge  of  the  respective  County  Commis- 
sioners for  placement.  They  are  five  feet  high,  and  a  half  foot  wide,  and  one 
foot  thick,  marked: 

OREGON  TRAIL  BOZEMAN  TRAIL 

MARKED  BY  THE  OR  MARKED  BY  THE 

STATE  OF  WYOMING  STATE  OF  WYOMING 

1913  1913 

Usually  these  stones  are  placed  on  a  cement  foundation,  the  labor  and  the 
expense  of  the  cement  donated  by  the  several  counties. 

In  September,  1913,  the  Commissioners  of  Converse  County  placed  five  of 
these  stone  posts  on  the  Oregon  Trail,  as  follows: 

At  the  junction  of  the  Cheyenne-Fetterman  and  Fort  Laramie  and  Fort 
Fetterman  road. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


On  the  trail  just  South  of  the  Wagon  Hound. 

At  La  Prele  school  house,  which  is  just  one-half  mile  from  the  trail  and 
marks  the  site  of  the  first  school  house  erected  in  Converse  County. 

A  stone  West  of  S.  O.  ranch  at  the  junction  of  the  trail  and  the  wagon 
road. 

A  marker  near  the  grave  of  a  child  who  was  buried  on  the  trail  near  the 
Big  Muddy.  "Near  the  center  of  the  Big  Muddy  field,  a  few  feet  South  of  the 
Oregon  Trail,  is  a  lonely  grave,  covered  with  stones  and  marked  by  a  rough  head- 
stone on  which  is  rudely  chiseled  the  name,  and  date  of  death,  July  3,  1  864,  of  a 
little  girl,  Ada  Magill,  a  member  of  the  party  of  Ezra  Meeker,  who  passed  this 
way  en  route  to  Oregon  more  than  56  years  ago.  The  party  camped  for  the  night 
on  the  bank  of  the  North  Platte.  The  child  was  taken  ill,  died  and  was  buried  by 
the  edge  of  the  trail.  Stones  were  heaped  on  the  grave  and  a  rude  fence  erected 
about  it  to  keep  off  wolves  and  coyotes.  The  fence  long  ago  disappeared,  but  the 
stones  remain.  Nearby  is  a  red  stone  marker,  an  official  Orgon  Trail  post. 
Hundreds  of  automobiles  pass  over  this  highway  every  day  en  route  to  Yellow- 
stone Park.  For  more  than  half  a  century  canvas  covered  wagons,  headed  west- 
ward, crossed  the  rich  oil  sands  of  the  Big  Muddy,  the  owners  little  realizing  that 
there  were  riches  under  their  feet  as  well  as  at  the  far  end  of  the  trail.  Over  this 
lonely  grave  the  noon  day  sun  beats  down,  and  not  one  in  a  thousand  of  those 
who  pass  by  know  of  its  existence.  The  snows  cover  it  with  a  mantle  of  white  in 
winter.  In  spring  the  winds  whisper  and  the  birds  sing  above  it.  And  in  the 
watches  of  the  night  the  stars  keep  vigil  over  this  tiny  God's  acre  in  a  treeless 
land." 

On  Saturday,  September  20,  1913, 
the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, the  citizens  of  Douglas,  and  mem- 
bers of  the  State  Federation  of  Women's 
Clubs,  the  Federation  at  that  time  hold- 
ing its  annual  meeting  in  Douglas,  wit- 
nessed the  ceremony  of  unveiling  a  monu- 
ment five  miles  west  of  the  city,  the 
monument  being  placed  at  the  site  where 
the  old  Oregon  Trail  crosses  the  road 
that  went  to  Fort  Fetterman,  called  the 
"Upper  La  Prele  Road".  The  monu- 
ment, as  well  as  five  stone  posts  set  in 
Converse  County,  had  the  site  selected, 
the  inscription  made  by  the  following 
committee  of  Converse  County  citizens: 
Messrs.  Al  Ayers,  M.  K.  Wiker, 
George  Powell,  H.  P.  Allen,  and  Ed- 
ward T.  David. 

The  program  for  the  unveiling  of  the 
Douglas-Fort  Fetterman  monument  fol- 
lows :  Unveiling  of  Monument,  by  Helen 
McWhinnie;  "The  Pioneer",  Mayor  C. 
H.  McWhinnie;  Mr.  B.  J.  Irwin. 
"Why  the  Site";  Mrs.  S.  Downey 


Unveiling  the  Monument  near  Douglas,  Mayor 
McWhinnie  making  the  address,  September 
20,  1913.  Dr.  C,  A.  Duniway  with  folded 
arms. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


(Eva  Owen),  who  as  an  infant  went  over  the  Oregon  Trail  with  her  parents  in 
1852,  "Trail  Breaking";  Mr.  Al  Ayers,  "Helping  to  Build  Fort  Fetterman  in 
1867  and  Dismantling  the  Fort  in  1867".  Mr.  Ayer  having  taken  part  in  both 
events;  President  C.  A.  Duniway,  of  Wyoming  State  University,  "Responsi- 
bilities to  Pioneers",  reading  in  part  from  his  mother's  diary,  written  in  1852, 
when  she.  as  a  young  woman,  went  over  the  Oregon  Trail  with  her  parents  on 
their  way  to  the  Oregon  country. 

This  monument  of  red  sandstone  from  the  quarry  south  of  Glenrock,  about 
10  feet  high,  on  a  base  three  feet  square,  bears  the  following  inscription: 

"THIS  MONUMENT  MARKS  THE  JUNCTION  OF  THE 
OREGON  TRAIL  AND  A  ROAD  TO  OLD  FORT  FETTERMAN. 
THE  FORT  WAS  NINE  MILES  SOUTH  OF  THIS  SPOT.  ESTAB- 
LISHED JULY  19,  1867;  ABANDONED  MAY  25.  1882.  ERECTED 
BY  THE  STATE  OF  WYOMING  AND  CITIZENS  OF  CONVERSE 
COUNTY  TO  COMMEMORATE  THE  EARLY  HISTORY  OF 
WYOMING." 

Fort  Fetterman,  named  for  Gen.  William  L.  Fetterman,  who  was  killed 
by  the  Sioux  December  21,1 866,  was  situated  on  the  south  side  of  the  North 
Platte,  where  La  Prcle  Creek  empties  into  the  river.  When  the  three  forts,  Reno, 
Phil  Kearney,  and  C.  F.  Smith,  on  the  Bozeman  Trail,  were  abandoned  in 
August,  1 868,  Fetterman  became  an  important  supply  point  for  the  army  operat- 
ing against  the  Indians  in  the  Northwest.  For  a  period  of  years  Gen.  Henry  B. 
Freeman,  father  of  Mrs.  Robert  D.  Carey,  was  stationed  at  this  post,  also  at  old 
Fort  Caspar,  Fort  Reno,  and  Fort  Phil  Kearney. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL  IN  PLATTE  COUNTY 

In  October,  1913,  three  Oregon  Trail  markers  were  sent  to  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Platte  County,  who  placed  them : 

One  on  the  divide  East  of  Badger  Creek. 

On  the  divide  between  Little  Cottonwood  Creek  and  the  Platte  River. 

At  the  old  telegraph  and  stage  station  grounds  on  Horse  Creek,  southwest 
of  Glendo. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL  AND  HISTORIC  SITES  MARKED  BY 

CAPTAIN  H.  G.  NICKERSON 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  OREGON  TRAIL  COMMISSION 
DURING  THE  SUMMER  OF   1913  AND   1914 

FORT  AUGUR  AND  FORT  BROWN 

A  smooth-faced,  oblong  granite  boulder,  weighing  about  one-half  of  a  ton, 
hauled  from  the  mountains  near  Lander,  and  placed  on  the  site  of  old  Fort 
Brown,  now  the  property  of  F.  G.  Burnett,  of  Fort  Washakie.  situated  on  the 
South  side  of  Main  street,  in  the  city  of  Lander.  Tp.  33,  R.  99.  marked  "SITE 


10 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


The  Stone  Marking  Forts  Augur  and  Brown. 
Located  in  the  City  of  Lander.  Marked  and 
placed  by  Capt.  H.  G.  Nickerson. 


OF  FORT  AUGUR,  1869/70, 
FORT  BROWN,  1870-78"  (named 
in  honor  of  Gen.  C.  C.  Augur,  at  one 
time  Commander  of  the  Mountain  Divi- 
sion. The  name  was  changed  to  Fort 
Brown  in  1  870,  in  honor  of  Capt.  Fred- 
erick H.  Brown,  who  lost  his  life  in 
the  Fetterman  battle  on  December  21, 
1866,  near  Fort  Phil  Kearney.  Fort 
Brown  was  ultimately  moved  to  the  In- 
dian reservation  in  Fremont  County  and 
renamed  "Fort  Washakie"  for  "the 
great  and  good  Indian".  Chief  Wa- 
shakie is  buried  on  the  site  of  the  fort, 
his  grave  being  marked  by  a  large  granite 
stone.  This  marker  was  the  gift  of  the 
late  Hon.  Timothy  Burke,  in  1914. 
The  site  of  Fort  Washakie  was  marked 
by  Captain  Nickerson. 


FORT  WASHAKIE 

A  granite  slab  weighing  about  one-half  of  a  ton,  hauled  twenty  miles,  placed 
on  the  site  of  old  Fort  Washakie,  where  the  flag  staff  stood,  on  the  Shoshone  and 
Arapahoe  Reservation,  in  Tp.  35,  R.  100,  marked,  "SITE  OF  FORT 
WASHAKIE,  1878,  1909,  CAPT.  T.  G.  CARSON,  LAST  COM- 
MANDER, DIED  MARCH  9,  1 9 1 3." 


FORT  STAMBAUGH 

A  quartzite  slab  placed  on  the  site  of  Fort  Stambaugh,  on  the  old  parade 
ground,  in  Tp.  29,  R.  99,  located  a  few  miles  East  of  South  Pass  City  and 
three  miles  Southeast  of  Atlantic  City,  marked:  "SITE  OF  FORT  STAM- 
BAUGH, 1870-78." 

This  fort  was  named  in  honor  of  Lieutenant  Stambaugh,  who  was  killed 
near  the  site  by  Indians  on  May  10,  1870  (Fremont  County). 


BURNT  RANCH  STATION 

A  slate  slab,  hauled  ten  miles  to  the  site  of  Burnt  Ranch  Station  on  the 
Sweetwater  River,  on  the  Oregon  and  California  Trail,  Tp.  28,  R.  1  00,  about 
ten  miles  East  of  Pacific  Springs,  and  marked,  "BURNT  RANCH,  OREGON 
AND  CAL.  TRAIL,  1913." 

This  station  was  used  in  the  sixties  as  a  stage  and  telegraph  station  (Fre- 
mont County).  The  "Lander  Cut-Off  Trail"  a  branch  of  the  Oregon  Trail, 
started  to  the  Northwest  from  this  station,  leaving  Wyoming  a  few  miles  South 
of  the  present  town  of  Auburn  (Fremont  County). 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


II 


ST.  MARY'S  STATION 

A  slate  slab  obtained  twenty  miles  from  the  site,  placed  on  the  spot  where 
St.  Mary's  Station  was  located  on  the  Sweetwater  River.  Tp.  29,  R.  97,  twelve 
miles  East  of  Miner's  Delight,  marked  "OLD  OREGON  TRAIL.  1913.  ST. 
MARY'S  STATION."  This  station  was  also  used  for  stage  and  telegraph 
purposes  (Fremont  County). 


INDEPENDENCE  ROCK 

Independence  Rock,  on  the  North  side  of  the  Sweetwater,  Tp.  29,  R.  85, 
a  solid,  dome  shaped  granite  rock  about  two  hundred  feet  high  at  its  North  side, 
over  a  mile  in  circumference,  situated  on  the  old  Oregon  and  California  Trail, 
was  marked  on  the  West  face  of  the  stone,  "OREGON  AND  CALIFORNIA 
TRAIL,  1843-9,  1914"  (Natrona  County). 


DEVIL'S  GATE 

A  solid  granite  boulder  weighing  many  tons,  was  marked  at  Devil's  Gate 
on  the  Sweetwater,  at  the  Post  Office  of  Sun,  five  miles  West  of  Independence 
Rock,  TP.  29,  R.  87,  "OREGON  AND  CAL.  TRAIL.  1843-9,  1914" 
(Natrona  County). 

SPLIT  ROCK 

At   Split    Rock,    on    the    Sweetwater 

River,  on  the  Oregon  Trail,  in  Tp.  29, 
R.  88,  on  the  face  of  a  granite  bluff  by 
the  road  side,  was  marked,  "OREGON 
AND  CAL.  TRAIL,  1843-9.  1914" 
(Natrona  County). 


THREE  CROSSINGS 
At  the  Three  Crossings,  a  stage  and 
telegraph  station  in  the  Sixties,  on  the 
Sweetwater,  about  eight  miles  North  of 
Rongis,  on  the  old  trail,  Tp.  30,  R.  92. 
on  the  face  of  a  granite  bluff  by  the  road 
side  was  marked  "OREGON  AND 
CAL.  TRAIL.  1843-9.  1914"  (Fre- 
mont County). 


LANDER  CUT-OFF 
On  the  Sweetwater  River  at  the 
mouth  of  Gold  Creek,  on  the  Lander 
Cut-Off  of  the  Oregon  Trail.  Tp.  29. 
R.  102.  about  twelve  miles  East  of  Elk 
Horn,  on  a  granite  boulder  weighing 
many  tons,  there  was  marked.  "ORE- 
GON TRAIL  LANDER  CUT-OFF. 


ft 


The  President  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Wyoming 
Oregon  Trait  Commission  on  the  "Old  Trail 
to  the  West"  near  Split  Rock.  Natrona 
County.  August.  HIS.  Although  the  old  trail 
it  seldom  used  for  traffic,  the  road  of  the 
emigrant  is  today  easily  traced,  in  some 
places  being  fifty  feet  wide  and  ten  feet  deep. 
Sage  brush,  sand,  wind  and  time  cannot 
efface  the  well-beaten  path  made  by  the  home- 
seekers  on  their  journey  to  the  lands  of  the 
Pacific. 


1843-1914"    (Fremont  County). 


12 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


BIG  SANDY 

At  the  bridge  over  the  Big  Sandy,  where  the  Lander  Cut-Off  of  the  Oregon 
Trail  passes  through  Tp.  30,  R.  105,  at  Big  Sandy  Post  Office,  a  granite  slab 
was  placed  and  marked,  "OREGON  TRAIL  LANDER  CUT  OFF,  1843- 
1914"  (Fremont  County). 


OREGON  TRAIL 

Where  the  main  Oregon  Trail  crosses  the  Little  Sandy,  in  Eden  Valley, 
three  miles  Northeast  of  Farson,  Tp.  26,  R.  1  05,  a  slate  slab  was  placed,  having 
been  hauled  fifty  miles,  marked,  "OREGON  TRAIL,  1843-1914"  (Sweet- 
water  County) . 

Where  the  Oregon  Trail  leaves  the  Big  Sandy  on  its  North  side  at  the  big 
bend,  in  the  Southeastern  part  of  Tp.  23,  R.  109,  a  slate  slab  was  set,  hauled 
forty  miles,  marked,  "SLATE  CREEK  ROUTE  OREGON  TRAIL,  1843- 
1914"  (Sweetwater  County) . 

Where  the  Oregon  Trail  crosses  Green  River  in  Tp.  24,  R.  Ill,  near  the 
boundary  line  of  Sweetwater  and  Lincoln  Counties,  there  was  set  a  slate  slab,  on 
which  was  marked,  "OREGON  TRAIL  SLATE  CREEK  CROSSING, 
GREEN  RIVER,  1843-1914.  N."  (Sweetwater  County). 

Where  the  main  Oregon  Trail  crosses  Green  River,  just  North  of  Ander- 
son's Island,  at  the  home  of  Mr.  Walters  in  Tp.  25,  R.  112,  about  three  miles 
Northeast  of  Fontenelle,  there  was  placed  a  slate  slab,  marked,  "OREGON 
TRAIL,  1843-1914"  (Lincoln  County). 


Near  Fontenelle  Creek,  about  five 
miles  West  of  its  junction  with  Green 
River,  in  Tp.  24,  R.  113,  was  marked 
on  the  sandstone  bluff,  "OREGON 
TRAIL,  1843"  (Lincoln  County). 

To  reach  and  mark  these  various 
points,  as  stated  by  Captain  Nickerson, 
necessitated  traveling  with  a  team  about 
eight  hundred  miles,  consuming  the  warm 
months  of  the  summer  of  1913  and 
1914,  with  much  inconvenience  and 
hardship,  owing  to  the  frequent  rain 
storms,  and  often  high  winds,  deep  dust 
and  the  mosquitoes,  the  insects  often 
driving  "us  from  the  streams  out  into  the 
hills  or  plains  to  camp,  making  camping  in  the  open  country  very  disagreeable." 
"I  aimed  to  mark  permanent  bluffs  and  boulders,  when  found  at  suitable 
points  on  the  trail,  often,  however,  I  was  compelled  to  haul  rocks  a  long  distance. 
The  marking  was  done  by  cutting  the  letters  deep  into  the  hardest  rock  obtainable 
(generally  granite) ,  then  painting  the  sunken  letters  with  the  best  black  paint.  I 
often  found  it  difficult  to  follow  the  trail,  as  it  was  fenced  in  for  hundreds  of  miles 
along  the  streams  and  was  obliterated  by  hay  meadows  and  cultivated  ranches." 


Marker  on  Fontenelle  Creek  in  Lincoln  County. 
Inscription     carved     on     the     sandstone     that 
makes  part  of  the  bluff. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


13 


MARKERS  MADE  UNDER  THE  SUPERVISION  OF 

CAPTAIN  H.  G.  NICKERSON 

THROUGH  THE  WESTERN  PART  OF  WYOMING  DURING  THE  SUMMER  OF 

1915-1916 


On  Slate  Creek,  about  twelve  miles 
from  its  junction  with  the  Green  River 
in  Tp.  23,  R.  113,  one  and  one-half 
miles  from  Graham's  ranch,  about  twelve 
miles  Southwest  of  Fontenelle  and  twelve 
miles  North  of  Opal,  was  placed  a  slate 
slab  marked.  "OREGON  TRAIL, 
1843,  1915"  (Lincoln  County). 


OREGON 

TRAIL 


191 


Marker  at  the  junction  of  Green  River  and  Slate 
Creek  in  Lincoln  County,  showing  the  style 
of  native  stones  that  had  to  be  used  to  mark 
the  Oregon  Trail,  the  distance  being  too  great 
to  carry  granite  or  other  more  attractive 
shapes  of  stone. 


EMIGRANT  SPRINGS 


OREGON 

1  KAIL  18V 


\ 


At  Emigrant  Springs,  about  twenty 
miles  from  Green  River,  near  Supply  in 
Tp.  23,  R.  1  I  5,  a  slate  slab  was  placed, 
marked,  "OREGON  TRAIL.  1843- 
1915".  About  twenty-five  feet  East  of 
this  marker  are  several  graves  of  emi- 
grants with  unmarked  stone  slabs  above 
them,  with  sage  brush  five  or  six  feet  high 
on  the  graves.  One  hundred  yards  West 
of  the  graves  is  a  fine  spring.  (L'ncoln 
County). 


Marker  at  "Emigrant  Springs"  In  Lincoln  County. 
This  cut  shows  the  long  stretch  of  country, 
the  sage  brush,  the  sand,  the  mountains  in 
the  distance,  a  landscape  very  characteristic 
of  the  Oregon  Trail  West  of  Independence 
Rock. 


14 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


OR  r  CON 

' 


V3 


Marker  in  Sublette  Basin,  a  native  granite  stone. 
The  inscriptions  on  all  of  the  stones  placed 
by  Captain  Nickerson  were  made  by  him  out 
in  the  open  with  his  chisel  and  mallet,  re- 
gardless of  the  burning  sun  and  biting  sand 
storms. 


Near  the  crossing  of  Rock  Creek, 
where  the  trail  enters  a  Mr.  Reynold's 
field,  about  eight  miles  from  Cokeville  in 
the  Sublette  Basin,  in  Tp.  23,  R.  118, 
was  placed  a  solid  granite  stone  on  which 
was  marked,  "OREGON  TRAIL, 
1843,  1915"  (Lincoln  County). 

In  Tp.  25,  R.  112,  on  the  face  of 
a  hard  sandstone  bluff,  was  marked 
"OREGON  TRAIL,  1843,  1916". 
This  bluff  is  called  "Names  Hill"  be- 
cause of  the  great  number  of  names 
carved  on  its  face  by  Oregon  emigrants 
who  camped  on  the  meadows  between 
the  bluff  and  the  Green  River  (Lincoln 
County) . 


COKEVILLE 

The  town  of  Cokeville  (Lincoln  County)  has  placed  two  stones  on  the 
Oregon  Trail,  one  in  the  Eastern  suburbs  of  the  town,  eight  or  nine  feet  high, 
and  one  six  miles  Northwest  of  the  town,  near  Border,  on  the  Wyoming-Idaho 
boundary  line,  South  of  Bear  River. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL,  THE  LANDER  CUT-OFF  AND  THE 
SUBLETTE  AND  BRIDGER  ROUTES 

Just  West  of  where  Willow  Creek  (Fremont  County)  empties  into  the 
Sweetwater,  six  miles  south  of  South  Pa.ss  City,  a  branch  road  of  the  Oregon  Trail, 
called  the  "Lander  Cut-Off",  goes  Northwest  to  the  Post  Office  of  Big  Sandy, 
Tp.  30,  R.  105,  from  where  the  road  is  almost  directly  West  to  Big  Piney,  Tp. 
30,  R.  Ill,  and  then  Northwest  to  a  point  just  South  of  Afton,  Tp.  32,  R.  119, 
and  then  out  of  the  State  of  Wyoming.  This  trail  was  used  quite  extensively 
during  the  days  of  gold  digging,  in  the  Sixties,  in  Virginia  City,  Montana.  From  the 
Burnt  Ranch  Station,  which  is  where  Willow  Creek  empties  into  the  Sweetwater, 
the  regular  Oregon  Trail  went  to  the  Southwest,  through  South  Pass  and  by  the 
way  of  Pacific  Springs,  crossing  the  Little  Sandy  about  three  miles  Northeast 
of  Farson  (Sweetwater  County)  and  on  to  the  West  Side  of  the  Little  Sandy 
Creek  to  near  where  that  creek  and  the  Green  River  join.  Near  Eden  was  a 
cut-off  from  the  main  road  which  went  directly  to  the  West  and  was  known  as 
"Bridger's  Route",  which  went  North  of  Fontenelle  and  West  to  Cokeville, 
where  one  of  Sublette's  Cut-offs  joined  the  Bridger's  Route,  the  united  trail  going 
somewhat  Northwest,  leaving  Wyoming  South  of  Border.  The  Bndger  and 
Sublette  Routes  ran  almost  parallel  from  Eden  to  Cokeville.  The  trail  of  Bridger 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL  15 


left  Eden  to  the  Southwest,  following  the  West  bank  of  the  Big  Sandy  to  within 
six  miles  of  its  junction  with  the  Green,  which  was  crossed  about  a  mile  above 
its  junction  with  Slate  Creek.  From  this  point,  T.  24,  R.  Ill,  the  Bridger 
Route  went  to  the  Southwest  to  near  Sublette,  then  across  Ham's  Fork  about  six 
miles  North  of  Fossil  and  Northwest  to  Cokeville,  joining  Sublette's  Route.  The 
Bridger  and  Sublette  Routes  were  used  by  those  emigrants  who  dared  to  leave 
the  beaten  trail  and  water,  thus  shortening  the  journey  by  many  miles.  The  main 
Oregon  Trail,  after  crossing  the  Green  River  near  its  junction  with  the  Big  Sandy, 
went  to  the  Southwest,  crossing  Ham's  Fork  of  the  Green  and  going  up  Black's 
Fork  to  old  Fort  Bridger,  Tp.  16,  R.  115,  and  then  to  the  Northwest  out  of 
the  State. 


SHERIDAN  COUNTY 

The  Sheridan  County  Chapter  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion assisted  in  locating  the  four  Bozeman  Trail  markers  in  that  county.  In 
addition  to  this,  the  Chapter,  in  1914,  placed  a  large  gray  granite  monument 
and  base  on  the  site  of  the  first  house  erected  in  the  city  of  Sheridan,  the  house, 
or  log  cabin,  being  erected  by  Mr.  Mandell  in  1878.  On  the  side  of  the  marker 
appears  these  words: 

SITE 

OF  FIRST  CABIN 

BUILT  IN 

SHERIDAN 

1878-1914 

ERECTED  BY  THE 
D.  A.  R. 


FORT  SANDERS 

Old  Fort  Sanders,  situated  three  miles  south  of  the  city  of  Laramie,  was 
constructed  in  July,  1866,  in  order  to  have  soldiers  protect  the  tie  choppers  who 
were  working  in  the  hills  east  of  the  Fort  from  the  depredations  of  the  Indians, 
to  guard  the  mail  route  on  the  Laramie  plains,  and  protect  the  builders  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  in  1 866-69.  The  place  was  selected  because  it  was  at 
the  junction  of  the  emigrant  road  which  followed  up  Lodge  Pole  Creek  from 
Camp  Walbach  and  the  road  coming  from  the  south  by  the  way  of  Denver. 
At  this  point  the  two  roads  united,  going  West  by  the  way  of  Fort  Halleck  and 
Bridger's  Pass.  The  old  fort  of  Halleck  was  evacuated  July  4.  1866,  the  logs 
from  the  fort  being  hauled  across  the  Laramie  plains  by  oxen  and  used  in  the 
construction  of  Sanders,  John  Sublette,  now  ( 1 920)  of  Milo.  Carbon  County, 
assisting  in  driving  the  ox  teams. 

This  new  post  was  first  called  Fort  John  Buford.  but  was  subsequently 
changed  to  Sanders,  named  for  Capt.  William  P.  Sanders,  6th  U.  S.  Cavalry, 
and  Brigadier-General,  U.  S.  Volunteers,  who  gave  his  life  for  his  country  in  the 
battle  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  in  November,  1863. 


16 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


Monument  placed  at  the  site  of  Fort  Sanders,  near  the  city  of  Laramie,  July  18,  1914.  Reading  from 
left  to  right:  Miss  Alice  M.  Hebard,  Mrs.  Joseph  M.  Carey,  Hon.  Joseph  M.  Carey,  Mrs.  F. 
("Grandma")  Blake,  Mrs.  Chase,  Mrs.  James  Mathison  and  Mrs.  R.  E.  Fitch. 

The  Jacques  Laramie  Chapter  of  the  D.  A.  R.  of  Laramie,  on  July  1  8, 
1914,  unveiled  a  monument  on  the  site  of  Fort  Sanders,  the  State  and  this  Chap- 
ter purchasing  the  marker.  Mrs.  J.  H.  Abbot,  Chapter  Regent,  unveiled  the 
monument;  Mrs.  R.  E.  Fitch,  ex-Regent,  delivered  an  address  on  "Marking 
Historical  Places";  Governor  J.  M.  Carey,  speaking  on  "The  Early  History  of 
Wyoming  and  the  Building  of  Fort  Sanders",  saying  in  part  that  "Fort  Sanders 
became  a  most  important  station,  and  I  am  glad  that  its  location  is  to  be  today 
well  marked.  I  doubt  if  there  had  been  any  time  in  the  history  of  this  grand 
State  that  such  an  historic  ceremony  has  taken  place.  Just  before  the  time 
Laramie  was  founded,  soon  after  the  Civil  War,  there  assembled  in  this  .spot 
probably  as  many  heroes  as  were  ever  together  on  any  spot  in  the  world.  These 
were  General  Scott,  General  Sherman,  Philip  Sherman,  General  Grant,  General 
G.  M.  Dodge,  General  Harney,  General  Rawlins,  all  young  men  except  Harney, 
who  was  sixty-six." 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL  1 7 

THIS  MONUMENT 
MARKS  THE  SITE  OF 

FORT  SANDERS 

ESTABLISHED  SEPTEMBER  5.  1866 

ABANDONED  MAY  18,  1882 

NAMED  IN  HONOR  OF 

BRIGADIER  GENERAL 

WILLIAM  P.  SANDERS 

ERECTED  BY  THE 
STATE  OF  WYOMING 

AND 
JACQUES  LARAMIE  CHAPTER 

DAUGHTERS  OF  THE 

AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

JUNE,  1914 


FROM  JULY  10  TO 
SEPTEMBER  5,  1866 

KNOWN  AS 
FORT  JOHN  BUFORD 


FORT  HALLECK 

Near  the  base  of  Elk  Mountain  (Carbon  County)  was  established,  in 
1862,  Fort  Halleck,  named  for  the  one-time  U.  S.  Secretary  of  War,  Major 
General  Halleck.  This  fort  was  also  a  stage  and  express  station  for  the  Over- 
land Route,  which  went  directly  West  from  this  point  to  Salt  Lake  by  the  way 
of  Bridger's  Pass  (near  the  Post  Office  of  Sulphur,  Carbon  County).  This 
route,  which  was  established  in  the  year  of  1862,  and  used  for  a  portion  of  its 
way  in  Northern  Colorado  and  Southern  Wyoming,  was  blazed  by  Gen.  John  C. 
Fremont  in  1843.  This  Overland  Route  was  South  of  the  old  Oregon  Trail, 
coming  into  Wyoming  by  the  way  of  Latham,  Denver  and  La  Porte.  Colorado. 

The  site  of  Halleck  was  a  great  .strategic  point.  The  Indians  from  all  points 
of  the  compass  centered  around  and  along  the  trails  which  were  used  in  that 
locality.  It  was  a  strong  point  of  offense  for  the  redman  and  also  for  defense  by 
the  whites.  The  fort  was  not  a  stockade,  but  consisted  of  several  substantially 
constructed  buildings.  No  ceremonies  have  been  held  for  the  unveiling  of  the 
monument  on  the  site  of  this  fort.  The  monument  is  of  granite,  polished  on  one 
side,  bearing  the  inscription  as  below.  The  stone  was  placed  by  the  State,  Mrs. 
Inez  Kortes  of  Elk  Mountain  and  the  Jacques  Laramie  Chapter.  D.  A.  R. 

The  marker  is  placed  on  the  old  parade  ground  of  the  fort,  just  in  front  of 
the  Quealey  home,  known  as  "The  Quealey  Home  Ranch*',  about  six  miles 
West  of  the  town  of  Elk  Mountain.  Tp.  20.  R.  81.  Sec.  21. 


18 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


Monument  marking  the  site  of  the  important 
fort  of  Halleck,  situated  on  the  old  Overland 
Trail  in  Carbon  County.  The  two  markers 
donated  by  Mrs.  Kortes  and  Mrs.  Meyer  and 
the  one  at  Fort  Fred  Steele  are  of  the  same 
kind  of  stone  and  style  of  inscription. 


CARBON  COUNTY 

In  1914  Mrs.  Inez  L.  Kortes  and  Mrs.  R.  D.  Meyer,  of  Carbon  County, 
each  donated  the  sum  of  $50.00  for  the  erection  of  a  monument,  the  style  of  the 
stone  being  identical  with  that  which  marks  the  site  of  old  Fort  Halleck,  granite 
highly  polished  on  the  side  on  which  the  inscription  is  carved. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL  19 


THE  SITE  OF 

OLD  ROCK  CREEK  THE  SITE  OF 

STAGE  CROSSING  OLD  CHEROKEE  TRAIL 

OVERLAND  TRAIL  1862-1868  THIS  MONUMENT  IS 

FREMONT'S  SURVEY  1843  ERECTED  BY 

ERECTED  BY  MRS.  R.  D.  MEYER 

INEZ  KORTES  HANNA,  WYOMING 

ELK  MOUNTAIN,  WYOMING  JUNE  1914 
JUNE   1914 

The  Kortes  marker  is  located  in  front  of  the  old  Arlington  summer  resort, 
now  called  "Wildwood  Resort",  about  three  and  a  half  miles  from  the  new  oil 
fields.  This  site  is  where  the  General  Fremont  Survey  (1843),  the  Overland 
Trail  and  the  Cherokee  Trail  cross  Rock  Creek,  located  in  T.  20,  R.  80,  Sec.  20. 

The  Meyer  marker  is  on  the  exact  spot  where  the  Old  Cherokee  Trail 
crosses  the  Overland  Trail.  In  the  first  surveys  of  the  Lincoln  Highway,  the 
road  ran  by  this  marker,  but  more  recent  surveys  do  not  pass  the  monument,  which 
is  now  30  feet  off  of  the  main  road.  Situated  in  T.  1 9,  R.  70,  Sec.  8. 

The  Oregon  Trail  Commission  placed  an  Overland  Trail  marker  on  the 
hill  above  the  town  of  Elk  Mountain,  inside  of  the  town  limits,  on  the  main 
traveled  road  from  Elk  Mountain  to  Laramie  City. 


CHEROKEE  TRAIL 

(Sweetwater  County) 

About  forty-five  miles  South  of  Rock  Springs  on  the  "Old  Cherokee  Trail" 
there  is  a  grave  of  a  young  woman  who  went  over  the  road  in  the  early  days,  a 
member  of  one  of  the  cross-country  caravans.  The  emigrants  placed  a  rough 
piece  of  sandstone  with  an  inscription  over  the  grave.  Time  and  weather  almost 
obliterated  the  markings,  but  Mr.  Robert  Ramsey,  Jr.,  secured  a  new  stone  and 
re-inscribed  the  data  from  the  old  stone,  and  placed  the  marker  on  the  forgotten 
grave.  For  over  twenty-five  years  this  family  has  taken  flowers  to  this  lonely 
grave  on  each  Decoration  Day. 

The  original  stone  and  the  replacement  read: 

1834  1852 

IN  MEMORY 

OF 

MALINDA  J.  ARMSTRONG 
DIED  AUGUST  18,  1852 


FORT  LARAMIE 

Fort  Laramie  was  the  most  significant  and  substantial  of  the  posts  on  the 
Oregon  Trail,  situated  on  the  South  side  of  the  North  Platte  near  its  junction 
with  the  Laramie  River.  No  fort  on  this  long  trail  of  over  two  thousand  miles 
has  had  as  many  visitors  of  distinction  in  literature,  from  the  U.  S.  Army,  from  the 


20 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


Fort  Laramie  Monument. 


camps  of  the  Sioux,  Arapahoes  and 
Cheyennes  and  other  warring  Indians,  or 
was  as  familiarly  known,  or  became  the 
common  campfire  talk  as  the  fortification 
named  for  Jacques  Laramie.  Laramie 
was  a  French  Canadain  trapper  who  lost 
his  life  in  1  820  while  setting  his  beaver 
traps  on  the  river  that  bears  his  name. 
At  different  times  the  spelling  of  this  fur 
trader's  name  has  been  de  la  Ramee, 
La  Ramee,  La  Ramie,  and  Laramie. 

This  fort  has  also  been  called  Fort 
William  and  Fort  John.  In  1834  the 
old  post  was  first  constructed  by  Wil- 
liam Sublette  and  Robert  Campbell  not 
as  a  fortification,  but  as  a  building  in 
which  was  to  be  carried  on  traffic  in  furs, 
a  fur  trading  center  for  the  Indians 
located  in  that  vicinity.  The  fort  soon 
changed  hands,  becoming  the  property 
of  Fitzpatrick,  Milton  Sublette  and  Jim 
Bridger  (1835).  During  this  same 
year  the  post  was  transferred  to  Lucien 

Fontenelle,  who,  in  turn,  soon  sold  the  buildings  to  the  American  Fur  Company, 
the  name  of  the  fort  being  at  this  time  changed  to  Fort  John,  previously  having 
been  called  William  for  Sublette. 

The  original  site  of  the  old  fort  was  about  a  mile  down  the  Laramie  from, 
its  present  location.  Gradually  the  name  of  Fort  John  became  changed  to  "Fort 
Laramie",  or  "Laramie  on  the  Platte".  The  post  remained  in  the  possession  of 
fur  traders  until  1  849,  when  it  was  sold  to  the  government  and  garrisoned  as  a 
military  fort.  The  fort  remained  a  military  post  until  1  890,  when  it  was  sold 
in  a  large  part  to  Hon.  John  Hunton,  who  has  lived  at,  or  near,  the  fort  since 
1  866,  to  the  present  day,  December,  1  920. 

At  this  post  many  treaties  with  the  Indians  were  signed.  Gen.  John  Charles 
Fremont  visited  the  place  in  1  842  and  it  was  largely  upon  his  recommendation 
that  Forts  Kearney,  Nebraska,  Laramie  and  Bridger,  Wyoming,  and  Hall, 
Idaho,  were  purchased  for  military  purposes  in  order  to  protect  from  the  deprada- 
tions  of  the  redman  the  emigrants  and  traffic  on  the  way  to  the  West.  At 
Laramie  the  emigrant  trains  repaired  their  creaking,  sun-warped  wagon  wheels, 
replenished  their  stock  of  provisions,  put  new  shoes  on  their  oxen  and  horses,  rested 
and  slept  without  an  anxious  care  of  Indian  raids. 

Fort  Laramie  played  an  important  part  in  the  operation  of  the  fateful  Boze- 
man  Trail,  which  went  from  this  fort  to  the  Northwest  into  the  choice  hunting 
grounds  of  the  Sioux  on  the  Powder,  Tongue  and  Big  Horn  Rivers.  Some  of 
the  old  fort's  buildings  are  today  in  a  state  of  splendid  preservation,  notably  the 
historic  batchelors'  headquarters  called  "Bedlam",  about  which  Capt.  Charles 
King,  who  was  at  one  period  stationed  at  the  fort,  constructed  a  romance  bearing 
the  name  of  this  old  building.  The  lumber  for  the  construction  for  this  and  other 
buildings  was  freighted  by  ox  teams  from  Fort  Leavenworth. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


21 


Isolated  indeed  were  the  men  at  this  post  in  its  early  days,  when  they  saw 
and  experienced  active  service  in  a  field  so  far  removed  from  civilization  that  in 
April  of  one  year  they  heard  of  the  presidential  election  which  had  taken  place 
early  in  November  of  the  preceding  year. 

A  monument  1 4  feet  high,  built  of  concrete,  has  been  erected  at  Fort 
La  ramie  exactly  where  the  Oregon  Trail  entered  the  old  fort,  about  fifty  feet  East 
of  the  ancient  adobe  sutler's  store,  built  in  1 852.  At  this  store  Mr.  Hunton 
and  Judge  Gibson  Clark  in  the  sixties  served  for  many  years  as  clerks  to  Sutler 
Seth  E.  Ward.  Mr.  Hunton  and  Mr.  Joseph  Wilde  donated  the  monument, 
the  State  furnishing  a  tablet  of  Fort  Collins  stone  two  feet  square,  which  has  been 
embedded  in  the  monument,  bearing  the  following  inscription: 

FORT  LARAMIE 
A  MILITARY  POST  ON  THE  OREGON  TRAIL 

JUNE  16,  1849-MARCH  2,  1890 

THIS  MONUMENT  IS  ERECTED  BY 

THE  STATE  OF  WYOMING  AND 

A  FEW  INTERESTED  CITIZENS 

1913 

In  the  morning  of  June  17,  1915,  ceremonies  were  held  at  the  monument, 
when  Mrs.  John  Hunton,  a  member  of  the  D.  A.  R.,  unveiled  the  marker.  Hon. 
Joseph  M.  Carey,  who  had  as  Governor  of  Wyoming  and  a  pioneer  citizen 
assisted  in  the  organization  of  an  Oregon  Trail  Commission,  spoke  on  "The  Life 
of  the  Pioneer";  Miss  Grace  Raymond  Hebard,  State  Regent  of  the  D.  A.  R., 
told  of  "The  Significance  of  Fort  Laramie  on  the  Oregon  Trail". 


LINGLE  AND  TORRINGTON 


Unveiling  the  Oregon  Trait  marker  near  Lingle.    Hon.  Joseph  M.  Carey  (peaking.    June  17.  1915 


22 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


In  the  afternoon  of  this  day  two  Ore- 
gon Trail  markers  were  unveiled  East  of 
the  fort.  The  one  at  Lingle  on  the  South 
side  of  the  North  Platte,  one  and  a  half 
miles  from  the  town,  was  unveiled  by 
Miss  AJice  M.  Hebard  of  the  Cheyenne 
Chapter  of  the  D.  A.  R.  After  this 
ceremony,  Governor  Carey  and  the  State 
Regent  both  addressed  the  assembly  on 
the  subject  of  frontier  life.  The  Oregon 
Trail  marker  at  Torrington,  as  at  Lingle, 
was  purchased  by  the  State,  the  citizens 
of  Goshen  County  placing  and  setting 
tHe  stones  in  cement  foundations  about 
four  feet  above  the  ground.  The  granite 
marker  is  on  the  South  side  of  the  Platte 
and  one  mile  West  of  Torrington.  After 
the  unveiling  of  the  Torrington  monu- 
ment by  Mrs.  Frank  Close,  of  Torring- 
ton, Mr.  Edward  Patrick,  a  frontiers- 
man of  the  Goshen  Hole  district,  spoke 
on  ''Privations  Necessary  to  a  Civiliza- 
tion";  Mr.  I.  S.  Bartlett,  of  Cheyenne, 
told  of  "The  Immigration  on  the  Oregon  Trail";  Governor  Carey  of  "Agricul- 
tural Possibilities  in  Goshen  County",  and  Miss  Hebard  on  "The  Gold  Fields 
that  the  49ers  on  the  Oregon  Trail  Overlooked",  referring  to  the  fields  of  golden 
grain  in  the  midst  of  which  the  trail  stone  had  been  placed. 

In  the  evening  the  citizens  of  Torrington  had   a  campfire  "mess  wagon" 
supper,  around  which  fire  the  pioneers  told  of  the  early  days  of  frontier  Wyoming. 


The  Oregon  Trail  Marker  near  Torrington 


FORT  BONNEVILLE 

Capt.  Benjamin  L.  E.  Bonneville,  in  the  summer  of  1832,  came  from  St. 
Louis  over  the  Oregon  Trail  into  the  present  State  of  Wyoming,  bringing  with  him 
1  10  men,  28  wagons  drawn  by  mules,  horses  and  oxen,  provisions,  merchandise 
and  ammunition.  Bonneville  was  the  first  to  take  four-wheeled  vehicles  through 
South  Pass  and  beyond,  though  William  Ashley,  in  the  early  twenties  took  a 
two-wheeled  cannon  through  and  beyond  the  Pass.  The  redmen,  seeing  Bonne- 
ville's  wonderful  cavalcade,  were  filled  with  awe  and  admiration  at  the  gorgeous 
trappings  and  clanking  chains  on  the  horses.  They  also  looked  with  intense 
curiosity  and  interest  on  the  family  cow  and  her  calf  following  peacefully  in  the 
rear  of  the  procession,  this  being  the  Indians'  first  knowledge  of  a  completely 
domesticated  milch  cow. 

Bcnneville  journeyed  across  the  Green  River  to  Horse  Creek,  where  he 
built,  in  the  heart  of  the  Indian  country,  a  fur  post.  This  fortification  was  about 
300  yards  from  the  West  bank  of  the  Green,  Horse  Creek  emptying  into  the 
river  about  five  miles  below  the  fort.  The  site  is  six  miles  West  of  the  town  of 
Daniel,  Lincoln  County  (T.  34,  R.  112).  Although  much  time  and  labor  were 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


23 


expended  on  the  construction  of  the  post, 
an  early  snow  made  Bonneville  move  to 
the  West  out  of  the  present  boundaries 
of  Wyoming,  establishing  a  new  fort  on 
the  Snake  (Idaho).  The  building  of 
Fort  Bonneville,  called  "Fort  Nonsense" 
and  "Bonneville's  Folly",  in  1832,  gives 
Bonneville  the  distinction  of  erecting  the 
first  fur  fort  within  the  boundaries  of 
Wyoming. 

On    August    9,     1915,    eighty-three 
years  to  a  day  after  the  fort  was  built, 
President  H.  G.   Nickerson  and  Secre- 
tary   Grace    R.    Hebard    of    the    Oregon     Captain  Nickerson  and  Miss  Hebard  chiselino  the 
T     •!     /"•  L.   J     «.L          1J  inscription    on    the    Bonneville    Monument   at 

1  rail     Commission     Visited     the     old     Site  the  site  of  the  old  fort.  June  9.  1915. 

of  Bonneville's  folly,  where,  with  pick, 

irrigating  shovel  and  crowbar  the  old  rotten  stumps  of  the  stockade  were  found 
buried  three  or  four  feet  in  the  ground.  During  the  winter  of  1914-15  Dr.  J.  W. 
Montrose,  of  Daniel,  snaked  on  the  snow  and  up  the  frozen  river  a  native  boulderv 
which  he  hauled  near  the  supposed  site  of  the  old  fort.  On  hands  and  knees  in 
the  sun,  dust  and  gravel,  with  mallets  and  chisels,  the  members  of  the  commission 
carved  the  letters  on  the  stone,  which  was  finally  rolled  into  place  with  the  aid 
of  an  automobile,  log  chains  and  crowbars. 

Although  the  site  of  the  fort  is  in  an  isolated  district,  a  large  audience,  mostly 
in  automobiles,  arrived  in  the  afternoon  of  this  day  for  the  exercises.     A  neighbor- 

hood  basket  lunch  had  been  arranged  by 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Montrose  and  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  David  Scott,  which  was  served 
before  the  giving  of  the  program.  Cap- 
tain Nickerson  explained  the  purpose  of 
the  Oregon  Trail  Commission,  telling  of 
the  work  he  had  done  and  what  was  to 
be  done  to  fully  mark  the  Oregon  Trail 
across  the  State  of  Wyoming.  The  Sec- 
retary of  the  Commission  gave  a  history 
of  the  life  and  journey  of  Captain  Bonne- 
ville, explaining  why  he  came  to  that  part 
of  "The  Great  American  Desert". 

As  the  audience  sang  "America"  it 
seemed  strange  to  hear  the  words  that  stir 
to  national  patriotism,  out  in  a  locality 
where  before  had  only  been  heard  the 
nightly  songs  of  the  coyote,  the  war-cry 
of  the  Indians  and  the  occasional 
"whoop"  of  the  cowboy  since  the  day 
when  the  trader  and  trapper  trailed  over 
that  part  of  the  country. 

Fort  Bonneville   Marker. 


24 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


The  citizens  of  the  neighborhood  have  constructed  a  two  step,  concrete  base 
for  the  boulder,  thus  making  it  more  easily  to  be  seen  and  to  be  protected  from 
cattle  and  vehicles. 


FORT  BRIDGER 


Next  in  importance  to  Fort  Laramie 
on  the  Oregon  Trail,  which  was  667 
miles  from  the  east  end  of  the  trail,  was 
Fort  Bridger,  403  miles  from  Fort  Lara- 
mie, situated  on  Black  Fork  of  the  Green 
(Sec.  34,  T.  16,  R.  115).  As  early 
as  1 834  the  direct  vicinity  of  this  post 
was  used  as  a  rendezvous  for  fur  traders 
and  trappers,  for  all  of  the  branches  of 
the  Green  abounded  in  beaver.  Here 
were  Sublette,  Fitzpatrick,  Fontenelle, 
Bridger  and  others,  all  of  whom  have 
written  their  names  in  the  history  of 
AVyoming,  the  streams,  mountain  peaks, 
passes,  plains,  rivers  and  towns  bear 
silent  witness  to  these  indomitable  fur 
men. 

In  1843  Jim  Bridger  made  the  old 
fur  trading  post  into  a  small  fort,  adding 
a  blacksmith  shop  and  repair  station.  At 
this  place  wagons  were  repaired,  sup- 
plies replenished,  tired  men  and  animals 
rested,  and  hope  renewed  for  a  successful 
journey  over  the  remaining  portion  of  the 
trail.  The  need  for  military  protection 
to  the  emigrant  and  his  wagon  train 

Fort   Bridger  Monument    (Uinta  County).  ^^      ^       government      to      purchase 

Bridge's  fort,  rebuild  and  enlarge  it  and  keep  possession  of  it  from  1  859  to  1  890. 

Judge  W.  A.  Carter,  father  of  Mrs.  Maurice  Groshon,  for  a  number  of 
years  made  this  fort  his  headquarters,  being  sutler  of  the  post.  Mr.  Groshon's 
ranch  joins  on  the  site  on  which  a  monument  has  been  placed  to  mark  where  the 
old  fort  had  served  the  emigrants  in  their  need  for  protection,  food  and  shelter. 

In  the  fall  of  1915  the  citizens  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Bridger  turned 
out  en  masse  to  aid  in  the  building  of  the  marker  for  this  old  fortification,  Mr. 
Groshon  being  the  promoter  of  the  erection  of  the  monument.  The  marker  is 
made  of  cobblestones  set  in  cement  with  a  concrete  foundation,  built  in  a  pyramid 
form  seven  and  a  half  feet  at  the  base  and  ten  feet  high.  The  bronze  tablet  set 
in  cement  on  the  side  of  the  marker,  donated  by  the  State,  reads  as  follows : 

FORT  BRIDGER,  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  TRADING  POST 
1834.  U.  S.  MILITARY  POST  ON  THE  OREGON  TRAIL,  JUNE 
1 0,  1 858,  TO  OCTOBER,  6,  1 890.  THIS  MONUMENT  IS  ERECTED 
BY  THE  STATE  OF  WYOMING  AND  A  FEW  INTERESTED 
RESIDENTS.  1914. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


25 


WHITMAN  AND  SPALDING 
(South  Pass) 


In  1835  Dr.  Marcus  Whitman  and 
Rev.  Samuel  Parker  were  sent  from  the 
Atlantic  coast  as  missionaries  to  the  Ore- 
gon country,  with  a  view  to  establishing 
missions  among  the  Indians  of  that  part 
of  the  great  Northwest.  When  these 
men,  with  their  guides,  had  reached  the 
country,  via  the  Oregon  Trail,  West  of 
South  Pass  they  found  so  many  redmen 
assembled  and  eager  to  hear  of  the 
"Whiteman's  Book  of  Heaven",  as  they 
called  the  Bible,  that  it  was  decided  to 
have  one  of  the  missionaries  return  to 
civilization  for  additional  workers.  Par- 
ker, the  elder  man,  with  Jim  Bridger  as 
a  guide,  was  sent  forward  into  the  wil- 
derness, while  Whitman  retraced  his  steps 
to  New  York  to  obtain  recruits  for  the 
religious  work  to  be  carried  on  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Columbia  River. 

In  the  spring  of  1  836  we  again  find 
Dr.  Whitman  on  the  Oregon  Trail,  this 
time  with  his  bride  and  Rev.  H.  H. 
Spalding  and  his  bride,  a  strange  bridal 
tour  it  must  have  been  for  the  two  white 
women,  quite  the  most  remarkable  on 
record.  On  July  4,  1836,  the  small 
caravan  reached  South  Pass,  where,  with 
the  Bible  in  one  hand  and  an  American 


Pioneers  of  the  Oregon  Trail.  Left  to  rioht, 
Ezra  Meeker  and  Capt.  H.  G.  Nickerson. 
Pathbreakers  and  Trailmarkers. 


i 


South  Past  Marker  near  Pacific  Spring*, 
by  Ezra  Meeker,  1M3. 


PI. HI  (I 


flag  in  the  other.  Dr.  Whitman,  with  the 
rest  of  the  party,  fell  on  his  knees  and 
took  possession  of  the  land  to  the  West 
as  a  home  of  American  mothers  and  the 
Church  of  Christ. 

The  special  significance  of  this  group 
of  people  on  the  way  to  the  West  was 
that  now  for  the  first  time  white  women 
were  on  the  trail  that  ended  at  the  Pacific 
Ocean;  and  the  fact  that  these  women 
represented  a  factor  in  home  making  that 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  which  had 
dominated  the  Oregon  country,  had  to 
recognize  and  to  which  the  company  ulti- 
mately had  to  bow  in  submission. 


26 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


In  the  summer  of  1  903  Ezra  Meeker  placed  a  marker  at  Pacific  Springs, 
one  of  the  most  noted  points  on  the  Oregon  Trail,  the  continental  divide,  a  place 
passed  by  all  the  California  and  Oregon  emigrants  crossing  the  plains. 

Captain  Nickerson,  in  June,  1916,  hauled  a  stone  slab  to  the  Oregon  Trail 
at  South  Pass,  two  miles  east  of  Pacific  Springs,  Sweetwater  County.  This 
stone  is  in  Tp.  27,  R.  101,  20  feet  from  Ezra  Meeker's  Oregon  Trail  marker. 

The  marker  is  in  a  cement  foundation  and  carved  on  the  stone  is  the  follow- 
ing inscription: 


NARCISSA 
PRENTISS 
WHITMAN 

ELIZA  HART 
SPALDING 

FIRST  WHITE 

WOMEN  TO 

CROSS  THIS 

PASS 

JULY  4,  1836 


Some  estimate  may  be  made  of  the  strenuous  labor  performed  by  Captain 
Nickerson  in  marking  the  Oregon  Trail  from  the  following  extract  from  his  letter 
addressed  the  Secretary  of  the  Commission  on  June  24,  1916:  "I  have  just 
returned  from  the  South  Pass  Continental  Divide,  taking  ten  days  for  the  trip. 
Am  badly  used  up,  for  I  had  a  hard  trip,  had  cold,  stormy  weather,  hard  frosts 
every  night,  snow  banks  everywhere,  but  I  am  thankful  that  we  have  finished  the 
work  desired.  We  hauled  200  pounds  of  cement  from  Lander,  and  a  slate  slab 
from  Rock  Creek  25  miles.  It  took  me  two  days  to  cut  80  letters  in  the  Whit- 
man-Spalding  stone.  I  set  both  monuments  in  concrete."  (Reference  here  is  made 
also  to  Ezra  Meeker's  marker,  which  he  placed  in  1903  near  Pacific  Springs.) 
Mr.  Meeker  was  at  that  time  placing  a  marker  here  and  there  along  the  Oregon 
Trail,  over  which  he  had  gone  with  an  ox  team  in  1  852.  He  was  marking  the  trail 
"to  preserve  the  identity  of  the  track  and  to  honor  the  pioneers  who  wore  it  so 
wide  and  deep  by  their  feet,  by  the  hoofs  of  their  oxen  and  the  grind  of  their 
wagon  tires" ! 


PROPOSED  MILITARY  AND  POST  HIGHWAY 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  1916  during  the  last  war,  Captain  of  the 
Corps  of  Engineers,  U.  S.  A.,  John  W.  N.  Schultz,  located  at  that  time  at 
Yellowstone  National  Park,  wrote  to  the  Oregon  Trail  Commission  in  regard 
to  the  possibility  of  using  the  old  highway  for  military  purposes.  The  letter,  in 
part,  reads  as  follows: 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


27 


"This  office  has  been  called  upon  by  the  Chief  of  Engineers,  U.  S.  Army, 
for  a  report  concerning  a  tentatively  proposed  military  and  post  highway  between 
St.  Louis.  Mo.,  and  Olympia,  Wash.,  to  follow  generally  the  Old  Oregon 
Trail.  I  have,  therefore,  the  honor  to  request  to  be  furnished  by  the  Commission 
of  which  you  are  a  member  with  any  information  possible  relative  to  this  subject, 
including  .such  maps  as  are  available,  preferably  in  duplicate. 

"What  is  desired  in  detail,  so  far  as  possible,  is  information  and  maps 
showing  the  route  of  the  Old  Oregon  Trail  through  Wyoming;  the  practicability 
of  the  route  for  an  important  highway  such  as  suggested  above;  and  the  location, 
width,  surfacing,  and  grades  of  an  important  present  road  which  could  form  a 
link  in  such  a  National  highway." 


LEST  WE  FORGET 

Seven  miles  Southeast  of  Lander,  on  the  road  to  South  Pass  City,  in  1870 
three  pioneers  were  killed  by  Indians.  Captain  Nickerson  fashioned  a  memorial 
in  remembrance  of  the  event. 


FORT  McGRAW 

On  July  17,  1916,  Captain  Nickerson  marked  and  placed  a  stone  on  the 
site  of  old  Fort  McGraw,  near  Lander,  where  troops  of  the  U.  S.  Army  were 
fortified  and  wintered  in  1856,  the  fort  being  built  as  a  stockade.  William 
McGraw,  a  contractor  and  road  builder,  wintered  at  this  fort,  which  was  guarded 
by  United  States  troops.  The  location  is  two  miles  east  of  Lander,  in  Tp.  33, 
R.  99. 


FORT  FRED  STEELE 

At  the  site  of  old  Fort  Fred  Steele,  Carbon  County,  between  Hanna  and 
Rawlins,  on  July  30,  1916,  the  Cosgriff  brothers  had  the  State's  monument 
placed  in  a  lasting  foundation,  the  wording  on  the  side  of  the  stone,  which  is  of 
the  same  material  and  size  of  the  marker  at  Halleck,  reads: 


28 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


FORT  FRED  STEELE 

U.  S.  MILITARY  POST 

JUNE  30,  1868 

TO 

AUGUST  7,  1886 

MARKED  BY  THE 

STATE  OF  WYOMING 

1914 


CAMP  WALBACH 

Situated  in  the  N'/2  of  NWJ4  of 
Sec.  1.  T.  15,  R.  70,  at  the  head  of 
Pole  Lodge  Creek  in  Laramie  County, 
twenty  miles  West  of  Cheyenne,  is  a 
State  monument  to  mark  the  site  of 
Camp,  or  Fort,  Walbach,  placed  on  land 
owned  by  Mr.  Lannen.  The  camp  was 
named  for  Gen.  J.  B.  Walbach,  the  site 
dedicated  and  unveiled  on  September  4, 
1916.  The  placing  of  a  marker  on  this 
rite  was  largely  due  to  the  suggestion  of 
Hon.  Joseph  M.  Carey  and  the  work  of 
Mrs.  J.  T.  Graham,  Mrs.  H.  B.  Patten, 
Mrs.  John  F.  Carey  for  the  Daughters 
of  the  American  Revolution  and  Hon. 
Maurice  Groshon  for  the  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution,  and  a  few  inter- 
ested pioneers.  The  funds  for  the  erec- 
tion of  the  stone  were  from  the  State, 
the  Cheyenne  Chapter  of  the  Daughters 
of  the  American  Revolution,  the  State 
organization  of  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution,  the  County  Commissioners 
of  Laramie  County. 

The  purpose  for  the  construction  of 
the  camp  was  to  place  a  guard  at 
Cheyenne  Pass  to  protect  from  Indian  depredations  the  many  emigrants  who  were 
then  going  over  this  road  toward  the  West  in  search  of  homes.  The  road  was 
never  a  mail  route,  but  used  exclusively  by  emigrants.  A  branch  road  from  this 
camp  went  to  the  Northeast  to  Fort  Laramie  and  one  went  to  the  South  to 
Denver,  the  combination  of  two  roads  being  called  the  "Fort  Laramie  and  New 
Mexico  Road".  The  camp  was  below  the  hill  on  which  the  monument  now 
stands,  the  hill  being  used  as  a  signal  point  for  danger  to  be  encountered  from 
the  Indians.  On  this  hill  may  be  seen  today  the  neglected  graves  of  several 
emigrants,  one  long,  by  the  side  of  which  is  a  small  one.  Were  these  mother  and 
child?  No  one  knows.  All  that  is  known  is  that  the  occupants  of  the  ground 
were  killed  by  Indians.  On  this  elevation  were  also  buried  a  number  of  soldiers, 
whose  remains  have  been  removed  to  one  of  the  large  military  cornet 


Camp  Welbach  Monument.  The  flowers  at  the 
base  are  at  the  head  of  a  grave  of  one  of  the 
emigrants  killed  by  Indians.  The  bouquet 
was  placed  by  Mrs.  Richardson,  of  Cheyenne, 
a  pioneer  of  pioneers,  September  4,  1916. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


29 


'veiling  ceremonies  cf  •'  -  September  day  were  conducted  by  Mrs. 
~»,^hon,  Regent  of  the  Chey^.mc  Chapter  of  the  D.  A.  R.,  and  Mrs. 
John  F.  Carey,  Chairman  of  the  occasion.  Mrs.  Groshon  gave  a  history  of  the 
camp;  Hon.  Joseph  M.  Carey  spoke  of  the  "Pioneer";  Hon.  N.  K.  Boswell 
told  of  the  "Early  Days  in  Wyoming",  and  Miss  Hebard,  State  Regent  of  the 
D.  A.  R.,  spoke  on  "Trails  to  the  West." 


Marker  on  the  Old  Overland  Route  where  it  crosses  the  Colorado-Wyoming  boundary  line,  not  far  from 
Virginia  Dale,  Colorado.  Monument  unveiled  July  4,  1917.  Reading  from  left  to  right:  Seated. 
Mrs.  Carrie  McCormick,  Miss  Beatrice  St.  Clair,  Mrs.  P.  J.  McHugh  (Regent  of  the  Cache  La 
Poudre  Chapter,  Fort  Collins,  Colo.),  Mrs.  James  Mathison  (Regent  of  the  Jacques  Laramie 
Chapter,  Wyoming),  Grace  Raymond  Hebard  (State  Regent  of  Wyoming).  Mrs.  Wilkie  Collins. 
Mrs.  George  W.  Storey,  Miss  Amy  G.  Abbot;  standing  to  extreme  left,  unknown,  Mrs.  S.  Arthur 
Johnson,  Mrs.  M.  M.  St  Clair,  Mrs.  Gerald  L.  Schuyler  (State  Regent  of  the  Colorado  Daughters 
of  the  American  Revolution),  Mr.  F.  B.  Bishop,  Hon.  W.  H.  Holliday.  Mrs.  J.  H.  Abbot.  Mrs. 
R.  E.  Fitch.  All  are  members  of  the  D.  A.  R.  except  the  two  honored  pioneers. 


COLORADO-WYOMING  BOUNDARY.  THE  OVERLAND  TRAIL 
The  Overland  Stage  Route  crossed  the  Colorado- Wyoming  boundary  line 
not  far  from  Virginia  Dale  Station,  Southeast  of  the  present  day  city  of  Laramie. 
In  the  early  sixties  the  Indian  depredations  on  the  Oregon  Trail  were  so  savage 
and  numerous  that  a  more  southern  road  was  put  into  use,  which  was  called  the 
Overland  Route.  This  road,  in  place  of  going  along  the  North  Platte  by  way 
of  Fort  Laramie,  went  up  the  South  Platte  via  Julesburg,  Latham,  Denver,  Fort 
Collins,  Virginia  Dale  (Colorado)  and  Rock  Creek,  Bridger  Pass,  Bitter  Creek 
Valley,  Green  River  to  Fort  Bridger  (Wyoming),  Salt  Lake  (Utah),  and  Fort 
Hall  (Idaho).  From  Hall  the  road  went  to  the  Southwest  to  California,  to  the 
Northwest  to  Oregon  and  to  the  North  to  Virginia  City  (Montana).  This  route 
was  intensively  used  from  1862  to  the  event  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad  into 
Wyoming  in  1 868. 

On  the  boundary  line  where  the  old  road  entered  Wyoming  from  Colorado, 
a  monument  of  Colorado  granite  6'/2  feet  by  4'/2,  has  been  placed,  bearing  the 
following  inscription : 


30 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


THIS  STONE  MARKS  THE 

PLACE  WHERE 
THE  OVERLAND  STAGE  LINE  ON  ITS  WAY  TO  THE  WEST 

JUNE  1862-1868 
CROSSED  THE  COLORADO- WYOMING  BOUNDARY  LINE. 

ERECTED  BY 
THE  STATE  OF  WYOMING 

AND  CHAPTERS  OF 

THE  DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

CACH  LA  POUDRE,  FORT  COLLINS,  COLORADO 

CENTENNIAL,  GREELEY,  COLORADO 

JACQUES  LARAMIE,  LARAMIE,  WYOMING 

1917 

The  unveiling  of  this  attractive  monument  took  place  on  the  fourth  of  July, 
1917,  the  audience  being  composed  of  citizens  from  Fort  Collins,  from  the 
neighborhood  of  the  stone,  and  from  Laramie.  Not  far  distant  from  this  spot, 
to  the  South,  is  the  old  Virginia  Dale  Station,  still  in  a  good  state  of  preservation, 

known  nation-wide  for  the  scene  of  nu- 
merous "hold-ups"  by  the  desperadoes, 
for  depredations  by  the  redmen  and  as 
the  headquarters  of  Jack  Slade  (Joseph 
A.),  efficient  division  station  agent,  as 
well  as  a  desperate  outlaw. 

The  boundary  stone  was  unveiled  by 
Mrs.  James  Mathison,  Regent  of  the 
Jacques  Laramie  Chapter,  followed  by 
the  program: 

'The  Overland  Trail  Through  Lari- 
mer County"  (Colorado),  Mrs.  P.  J. 
McHugh,  Regent  of  the  Cache-la- 
Poudre  Chapter,  Fort  Collins;  "The 
Stage  Station  of  Virginia  Dale",  Hon. 
William  H.  Holliday,  Laramie;  *  First 
1  hings  in  Colorado",  Professor  S.  Ar- 
thur Johnson.  Colorado  Agricultural 
College;  "Wyoming  Fifty  Years  Ago", 
Mrs.  R.  E.  Fitch,  ex-Regent  of  the 
Jacques  Laramie  Chapter;  "Today  and 
Yesterday",  Miss  Grace  Raymond  He- 
bard,  State  Regent  of  the  D.  A.  R. 

After  the  exercises  a  basket  picnic 
was  had  near  the  trail  and  the  monu- 
ment. 


Unveiling  the  Colorado-Wyoming  Monument.  Mrs. 
James  Mathison,  Regent  of  the  Jacques- 
Laramie  Chapter  of  the  Doughters  of  the 
American  Revolution. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


31 


The  D.  A.  R.  of  Wyoming  were  largely  instrumental  in  having  the  state 
flag  and  state  flower  adopted  by  the  Legislature  in  1 9 1  7.  At  this  boundary 
celebration  the  new  state  flag  was  for  the  first  time  used  at  a  public  function. 
Blended  with  it  were  the  Colorado  state  flag,  and  the  flags  of  the  United  States, 
of  France  and  Great  Britain.  The  state  flower  of  Colorado,  the  blue  and  white 
columbine,  and  that  of  Wyoming,  the  brilliant  red  Indian  paintbrush,  were  com- 
bined in  bouquets,  reminding  one  not  only  of  our  national  colors,  but  those  of 
France,  under  which  our  soldiers  were  on  that  day  marching  through  the  streets 
of  Paris,  the  first  time  in  history  that  the  stars  and  stripes  and  the  tri-colors  of 
France  were  used  in  war  in  France. 


WOMAN  SUFFRAGE  TABLET 


I-/.KKS  VHP  si  vi:  Y.T.PKI 
n;  Vilnius'!  vn;uni!:i 


iiii-  MKSV  Y;U:,. 

I  AVTASSIIMK  Ilir  UKmn  M 


AITIU'YPP 

JOHN  A)  )  I-K 

rillS'l    t''i)\TKK(JK 

i.i'.ri; 


\,VO: 


At  the  first  Territorial  Legislature 
of  Wyoming  the  women  of  the  newly 
organized  commonwealth  obtained  the 
right  to  vote.  On  December  1  0,  1  869, 
Governor  John  A.  Campbell  signed  a 
bill  making  a  law  that  granted  to  women 
equal  rights  of  franchise,  regardless  of 
sex.  This  was  the  first  law  of  its  kind 
enacted  in  the  world,  the  embryo  of 
national  suffrage  granted  to  the  women 
of  the  U.  S.  in  August,  1920. 

To  commemorate  this  pioneer  act, 
the  Cheyenne  Chapter  of  the  Daughters 
of  the  American  Revolution,  and  the 
Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  of  the 
State  and  a  few  interested  citizens  of 
Cheyenne  donated  a  noble  bronze  tablet 
which,  on  July  21,  1917,  was  placed 
on  the  North  wall  of  the  building  on  the 
Southeast  corner  of  Carey  Avenue  and 
Eighteenth  Street.  The  site  of  the 
present  building  is  that  of  the  old  build- 
ing in  which  the  first  Legislature  in 
Wyoming  was  held.  Those  who  were 
most  responsible  for  the  suffrage  enact- 
ment were  the  Hon.  William  H.  Bright,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature, 
being  the  President  of  the  "Council",  Mr.  Bright  introducing  the  bill  for  woman's 
suffrage  in  the  Council,  as  the  Senate  is  now  called.  Reinforced  by  Mrs.  Bright, 
who  was  in  Cheyenne  at  the  time  of  the  legislation,  and  Mrs.  Esther  Morris,  who 
lived  at  South  Pass  City.  Mr.  Bright  had  the  courage  of  his  convictions,  being 
able  to  successfully  champion  his  bill.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bright  also  lived  in  this 
mining  camp  from  which  Mr.  Bright  had  been  elected  to  the  Legislature.  It  was 
in  this  remote  gold  camp,  hundreds  of  miles  removed  from  civilization,  surrounded 
by  hostile  redmen,  that  William  H.  Bright,  through  the  direct  influence  of  Mrs. 
Morris  and  a  definite  promise  to  her  by  him.  that  a  bill  was  introduced  in  Wyo- 
ming's first  territorial  Legislature  granting  to  woman  the  right  of  franchise. 


Bronze  tablet  at  Cheyenne,  placed  on  the  wall  of 
the  building  on  the  site  of  the  old  building  in 
which  was  enacted  the  first  woman  suffrage 
law  December  It.  1M9. 


32  THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


The  unveiling  ceremonies  for  this  suffrage  tablet  were  conducted  by  Mrs. 
Maurice  Groshon,  Regent  of  the  Cheyenne  Chapter  of  the  D.  A.  R..  Hon. 
Joseph  M.  Carey,  for  forty-eight  years  a  resident  of  Cheyenne,  having  come  to 
Wyoming  as  U.  S.  District  Attorney  in  1  869,  a  witness  to  the  several  steps  taken 
to  make  women's  suffrage  a  law,  spoke  on  "The  History  of  the  Enactment  of 
Wyoming's  Equal  Suffrage  Law".  This  address  was  followed  by  one  from 
Miss  Grace  Raymond  Hebard,  State  Regent  of  the  D.  A.  R.,  on  "True 
Democracy",  supplemented  by  a  tribute  to  Governor  John  A.  Campbell,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  W.  H.  Bright  and  Mrs.  Esther  Morris. 

Mrs.  Isabella  W.  Campbell  (Mrs.  John  A.),  living  at  Washington,  D.  C., 
wrote  on  September  2,  1917,  words  of  appreciation  for  the  recognition  of  Gover- 
nor Campbell  as  follows:  "It  was  a  gracious  thing  in  the  Daughters  to  erect  the 
tablet  commemorating  the  suffrage  act,  for  it  was  really  a  very  courageous  thing 
which  my  husband  did  and  he  was  influenced  entirely  by  his  conscientious  con- 
victions after  studying  the  matter  and  recognizing  its  merits." 


INDEPENDENCE  ROCK,  ON  THE  OREGON  TRAIL 
Independence  Rock  is  forty-nine  miles  Southwest  of  the  city  of  Casper,  the 
Sweetwater  lashing  its  Southwest  side.  It  is  an  immense  isolated  stone  of  black 
granite  over  a  mile  in  length  from  the  North  to  the  South  and  about  one-half  a 
mile  in  width,  193  feet  high  at  its  North  end  and  1  67  feet  at  the  South.  On  the 
sides  of  this  old  rock  and  on  its  concave  top  are  hundreds  of  names  carved  deep 
into  the  stone,  some  of  them  bearing  a  date  as  early  as  that  of  1  843,  most  all  of 
the  names  easily  traced.  So  numerous  were  the  names  on  the  sides  of  this  gigantic 
monument,  this  great  interior  landmark,  that  the  good  Father  De  Smet,  when  he 
journeyed  over  the  Oregon  Trail  in  1  840,  called  the  stone  the  "Register  of  the 
Desert". 

The  old  Oregon  Trail,  in  reaching  Independence  Rock,  left  the  North 
Platte  at  its  great  bend,  near  Casper,  and  went  its  way  considerably  West  of  the 
river,  and  West  of  the  present  site  of  the  Pathfinder  Reservoir.  This  rock  was 
famous  long  before  the  coming  of  the  white  men,  for  the  Indians  journeyed  to  the 
stone  in  order  to  paint  on  its  .sides  the  history  of  some  of  their  famous  battles. 
When  the  tide  of  emigration  set  in,  the  rock,  situated  almost  midway  on  the  road 
to  the  West,  became  an  important  point  on  the  Oregon  trail,  like  a  beacon  eagerly 
looked  for  by  the  mariner  at  sea,  the  landmark  was  hailed  by  the  emigrant  as  it 
loomed  beyond  the  billowing  plains.  In  those  days  Independence  Rock  filled  a 
large  place  in  the  minds  of  thousands  of  men  and  women ;  today,  by  most  of  us, 
it  is  unknown.  For  a  number  of  years  there  used  to  be  at  Independence  Rock  a 
town  of  considerable  size.  Not  a  timber  remains  today  to  mark  its  site. 

On  the  6th  of  August,  1915,  Capt.  H.  G.  Nickerson,  President  of  the 
Oregon  Trail  Commission,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Commission  visited  this  old 
stone,  marking  it  with  carved  letters  in  several  places.  The  rock  at  that  time 
belonged  to  Mr.  Henry  D.  Schoonmaker,  on  whose  ranch  the  stone  was  situated. 
Since  that  date  the  ranch  has  been  sold  and  the  old  landmark  has  come  into  the 
possession  of  a  new  owner.  The  members  of  the  Oregon  Trail  Commission  are 
strong  in  their  opinion  that  this  historical  "register"  should  in  the  immediate  future 
become  the  property  of  the  State  of  Wyoming,  and  thus  be  protected  from 
vandalism  as  is  other  State  property. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL  33 


Mr.  Schoonmaker,  in  1 920,  donated  a  handsome  bronze  tablet  to  Wyoming 
to  be  placed  on  the  side  of  this  old  "register  of  the  desert".  The  reading  on  the 
marker  reads  as  follows: 

INDEPENDENCE  ROCK 

PROBABLY  DISCOVERED  BY  RETURNING  ASTORIANS,  1812 
GIVEN  ITS  NAME  BY  EMIGRANTS  WHO  CELEBRATED 

INDEPENDENCE  DAY  HERE  JULY  4,  1825 
CAPT.  BONNEVILLE  PASSED  HERE  WITH  FIRST  WAGONS  1832 
WHITMAN  AND  SPALDING,  MISSIONARIES,  WITH  THEIR  WIVES, 

STOPPED  HERE  1836 
FATHER  DE  SMET  SAW  IT  AND,  OWING  TO  MANY  NAMES  UPON  IT, 

CALLED  IT  "THE  REGISTER  OF  THE  DESERT",  1840 
GEN.  JOHN  C.  FREMONT  CAMPED  HERE  WITH  U.  S.  ARMY  AUG.  2,  1842 

50,000  EMIGRANTS  PASSED  HERE  IN  1853 

IT  IS  THE  MOST  FAMOUS  LANDMARK  ON  THE 

OLD  OREGON  TRAIL 

On  the  Fourth  of  July  in  the  year  1 862  nearly  a  thousand  men,  women 
and  children  chanced  to  be  at  Independence  Rock,  on  their  way  to  the  Oregon 
country.  It  was  found  that  there  were  many  Masons  in  the  congregation  of 
homeseeking  people,  enough  to  conduct  a  Masonic  Lodge  on  the  crest  of  the 
stone.  To  commemorate  this  event,  on  the  Fourth  cf  July  in  the  year  1920, 
under  the  supervision  of  Past  Grand  Master  A.  J.  Mokler,  Casper,  a  memorial 
service  for  this  event  was  arranged,  which  aLo  wa:  held  on  the  top  of  the  rock. 


tliL: i||;EK<'!'M-  Hi-  iltBMB  IK  MiLV 


L  GLL 


/-  JihUV  <!i'  ISligUML  li/J&fiKB  OIL' 

uu-  Oil'  oi 


tli  .  <!fiixiil»iUAt 


34  THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


After  the  services  a  program  was  had  at  the  North  base  of  the  stone  under  the 
bronze  tablet  that  had  that  day  been  placed  on  the  huge  landmark.  Grand 
Master  Arthur  K.  Lee  unveiled  the  tablet,  followed  by  an  address  on  "The 
Democracy  of  America";  Mr.  William  A.  Riner,  J.  G.  W.,  gave  the  oration 
of  the  day,  "The  Old  Trail  to  an  Empire". 


On  the  morning  of  July  4,  1  920,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Daughters  of 
America,  Mrs.  B.  B.  Brooks,  Casper,  State  Regent,  having  charge  of  the  pro- 
gram, an  Oregon  Trail  marker  was  unveiled  by  the  State  Historian  of  the 
D.  A.  R.,  Miss  Hebard.  Mr.  F.  G.  Burnett,  Fort  Washakie,  told  of  his  early 
days  along  the  old  trail  and  of  his  visit  to  Independence  Rock  in  1  868.  Follow- 
ing Mr.  Burnett's  speech,  Miss  Hebard  addressed  the  audience  of  several  hun- 
dred of  people  on  "The  Trail  to  the  West". 

This  marker  bears  the  words: 


OREGON  TRAIL 

MARKED  BY 

THE  STATE  OF  WYOMING 
1914 

This  stone  was  placed  by  the  State  of  Wyoming  and  the  Jacques  Laramie 
Chapter  of  the  D.  A.  R.  In  1  9 1  4  it  was  erroneously  erected  on  the  East  Side  of 
the  North  Platte,  supposedly  on  the  trail.  The  Commissioners  of  Natrona  County 
donated  their  services  to  removing  the  stone  to  the  North  side  of  the  Independence 
Rock,  just  below  the  tablet  placed  on  the  rock  on  July  Fourth,  imbedding  the 
granite  marker  in  a  foundation  of  cement. 


FORT  CASPAR,  OLD  OREGON  TRAIL 


Oregon  Trail  and  the  Caspar  Collins  monument  before  the  unveiling,  located  where  the  Yellowstone 
Highway  crosses  the  Oregon  Trail,  one  and  a  half  miles  West  of  the  city  of  Casper.  The  great 
width  of  the  old  trail  extends  from  the  left  of  the  marker  to  the  right  of  the  two  wagon  tracks. 
Photograph  taken  July  5,  1920. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL  35 


Fort  Caspar  was  located  about  one  mile  West  of  the  present  city  of 
Casper,  127  miles  West  of  Fort  Laramie,  and  403  miles  East  of  Fort  Bridget. 
The  original  name  of  this  fort  was  "The  Platte  Bridge  Station",  which  had  been 
used  in  turn  by  the  Pony  Express  and  telegraph  line  for  station  purposes.  The 
Indians,  particularly  the  Sioux,  Cheyennes  and  Arapahoes,  continually  besieged 
this  station  near  a  bridge  which  went  over  the  Platte  River,  making  their  attacks 
from  every  point  of  the  compass,  the  site  of  the  station  being  a  strategic  point  for 
the  Indians  as  well  as  the  soldiers.  The  soldiers  not  only  guarded  the  Oregon 
Trail  from  this  point  to  the  East  and  West,  but  also  the  trails  which  ran  to  the 
South  and  the  trail  which  in  1 866  ran  to  the  North,  the  Bozeman  Trail,  running 
up  to  Montana  on  the  East  Side  of  the  Big  Horn  Mountains.  From  the  Big 
Horn  River  North  of  the  mountains  of  that  name,  the  Bozeman  Trail  went  West 
to  Bozeman  Pass  (Montana)  and  then  Southwest  to  Virginia  City  and  the  pros- 
perous gold  mining  camps.  Fort  Caspar  was  on  the  East  side  of  the  river. 

With  headquarters  at  the  Sweetwater  telegraph  station  situated  near  or 
adjacent  to  Independence  Rock,  Lieut.  Caspar  W.  Collins,  son  of  Col.  William 
Collins,  for  whom  Fort  Collins,  Colorado,  was  named,  had  supervision  of  several 
of  the  stations  along  the  Oregon  Trail  West  of  the  one  at  Platte  Bridge.  On 
July  26,  1865,  on  his  return  from  Fort  Laramie,  where  he  had  just  received  his 
promotion  papers,  Collins  arrived  at  Platte  Bridge,  where  they  had  been  the 
previous  days  repeated  attacks  on  the  men  guarding  the  bridge,  the  trail  and  the 
men  who  were  mending  the  telegraph  lines.  Although  not  on  duty  at  this  station. 
Lieutenant  Collins  was  detailed  to  take  a  squad  of  soldiers  across  the  river  and 
drive  the  redmen  back  to  the  country  Northwest  of  the  Platte. 

Engaging  in  battle  with  the  Sioux,  Collins  was  killed  and  unmercifully 
mutilated,  not  while  fighting,  but  in  an  attempt  to  rescue  a  fallen  soldier  from  the 
ravages  of  the  Indians. 

As  a  slight  recognition  of  the  bravery  of  Lieutenant  Collins,  the  name  of 
"Platte  Bridge  Station"  was  changed  to  that  of  "Fort  Caspar".  (It  is  to  be 
noted  that  the  fort  was  always  spelled  with  the  additional  "a",  while  the  city  is 
spelled  with  an  additional  "e".) 

The  military  order  of  November  21,  1865,  reads:  "The  military  post 
stationed  at  the  Platte  Bridge  between  Deer  and  Rock  Creeks,  on  the  Platte 
River,  will  be  hereafter  known  as  Fort  Caspar,  in  honor  of  Lieut.  Caspar  Collins, 
Eleventh  Ohio  Cavalry,  who  lost  his  life  while  gallantly  attacking  a  superior  force 
of  Indians  at  this  place." 

A  pioneer  monument,  the  gift  of  citizens  of  Casper,  has  been  erected  near 
the  depot  of  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  railroad  at  Casper.  On  the  monu- 
ment appears  these  words: 

PIONEER  MONUMENT 
ERECTED  ON  THE  SITE 

OF  THE 

OLD  OREGON  TRAIL 

IN  MEMORY  OF  THE  PIONEERS 

WHO  BLAZED  THE  WAY. 

BUILT  BY 
NATRONA  COUNTY  PIONEER 

ASSOCIATION 
1894  1911 


36 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


Upon  the  face  of  the  monument  is  a  bronze  tablet,  donated  by  the  State,  on 
which  is  inscribed: 

FORT  CASPAR 

U.  S.  MILITARY  POST 

ESTABLISHED  ABOUT  1864 

FOR  VOLUNTEERS 

ABANDONED  OCTOBER  19,  1867 

SITUATED  ONE  MILE  WEST 

OF  THIS  SPOT 

MARKED  BY  THE  STATE  OF  WYOMING 
1914 


The  monument  was  unveiled  by  Miss  Erma  Patton,  Hon.  B.  B.  Brooks 
delivering  the  main  address  on  "The  Pioneer  Movement  to  the  West". 

In  the  morning  of  July  5,  1920,  under  the  supervision  of  the  Daughters  of 
the  American  Revolution,  by  Mrs.  B.  B.  Brooks,  State  Regent,  a  stone  was 
dedicated  in  the  memory  of  Caspar  W.  Collins  and  to  mark  the  Oregon  Trail. 
The  site  selected  is  about  a  mile  and  a  half  West  of  Casper  on  the  North  side  of 
the  river,  where  the  old  trail  and  the  new  Yellowstone  Highway  cross  each  other. 
The  stone  is  not  intended,  as  the  inscription  indicates,  to  be  on  the  exact  spot  where 
Collins  fell  on  July  26,  1865.  The  stone  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  old  trail 

bed,  which  is  at  this  point  at  least  fifty 

feet  wide  and  several  feet  deep,  looking 
like  some  ancient  irrigation  ditch.  The 
excavation  of  this  path  was  made  by 
human,  ox,  mule  and  horse  feet,  wagon 
wheels,  wheelbarrows,  push  carts,  Indian, 
wild  animal,  and  the  continual  winds 
of  a  Wyoming  climate !  In  some  places, 
as  West  of  the  Devil's  Gate,  the  old 
trail  is  ten  feet  deep.  The  old  indelible 
trail  has  not  been  effaced  by  time,  rain, 
.snow  or  disuse,  but  is  in  itself  a  lasting 
monument  to  the  indomitable  fur  traders, 
homeseekers,  gold  chasers  and  soldiers, 
who  helped  to  make  a  path  to  the  West 
and  obtain  peaceful  possession  of  the 
Oregon  country. 

Mrs.  Thomas  Cooper,  Regent  of 
the  Fort  Caspar  Chapter  of  the  D.  A.  R., 
unveiled  this  stone,  when  ex-Governor  B. 
B.  Brooks,  of  Casper,  spoke  of  "Forty 
Years  Ago",  when  he  first  went  over  the 
trail  in  that  locality.  Following,  Mr. 
John  C.  Friend,  of  Rawlins,  who  on  July 
27,  1865,  with  others,  left  the  Platte 
Bridge  Station  to  find  the  body  of  Lieu- 
tenant Collins,  vividly  related  his  ex- 


OREGON  TRAIL 


•If 


Mrs.  Thomas  Cooper,  Regent  of  the  Caspar  Col- 
lins Chapter  of  the  Daughters  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  unveiling  the  Oregon  Trail 
and  Caspar  Collins  Monument,  July  5,  1920. 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


37 


periences  of  that  day,  telling  of  the  finding  of  the  body  of  the  beloved  officer  and 
pointing  out  the  places  here  and  there  where  Indians  carried  on  their  warfare 
before  and  about  the  old  fort.  The  Secretary  of  the  Oregon  Trail  Commission 
and  the  State  Historian  of  the  Wyoming  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution 
told  about  "Indian  Battles  on  Both  Sides  of  the  Platte".  This  marker  was 
donated  by  the  State  of  Wyoming,  the  Caspar  Chapter  of  the  D.  A.  R.,  and 
the  Commissioners  of  Natrona  County. 


ESTHER  HOBART  MORRIS 
AT  SOUTH  PASS  CITY 


^  The  rift  in  the  mountains  in 
Southern  Fremont  and  Northern 
Sweetwater  Counties,  known  as 
South  Pass,  is  no  narrow  opening, 
but  a  broad  passage,  easy  of  ascent 
and  descent,  across  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  In  some  places  this 
opening  in  the  mountains  is  from 
twenty  to  thirty  miles  wide.  The 
old  Oregon  Trail  was  2,020  miles 
long,  extending  from  Independence, 
near  the  present  Kansas  City,  to 
Fort  Vancouver,  Washington,  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River 
and  a  few  miles  East  of  Old  As- 
toria. Exactly  who  was  the  first 
white  man  to  go  through  the  South 
Pass  where  the  Oregon  Trail  was 
located?  To  Thomas  Fitzpatrick, 
of  the  William  Ashley  Fur  Com- 
pany, in  1824,  is  given  this  honor. 
To  Etienne  Provost,  also  an  Ashley 
man,  also  goes  the  credit  when  he 
went  through  the  pass  in  1823. 

About  twelve  miles  north  of  this 
pass,  during  the  intense  stampede  to 
the  West  for  gold  in  the  sixties. 
South  Pass  City  had  its  birth.  This 
camp  along  Willow  Creek  for  sev- 
eral years  proved  to  be  a  profitable 
gold  mining  district,  some  four  to  seven  millions  of  gold  being  extracted  in  the 
n  mity  of  the  city. 

By  the  year  of  1869  there  were  at  least  four  thousand  people  in  South 
Pass  City,  this  being  the  year  when  territorial  organization  came  to  Wyoming. 
On  February  the  14th,  1870,  a  vacancy  having  occurred  in  the  office  of  Justice 
of  the  Peace  for  South  Pass  City,  Acting  Governor  Edward  M.  Lee.  Commis- 
sioned Mrs.  Esther  Hobart  Morris  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  the  first  woman  in  the 
world  to  occupy  such  a  judicial  position.  Mrs.  Morris,  with  her  husband  and  three 
sons,  had  come  to  South  Pass  in  the  late  sixties,  living  as  neighbors  to  Mr.  and 


Cairn  marking  site  of  the  Home  and  Office  of 
Esther  Hobart  Morris.  "Mother  of  Woman 
Suffrage  in  Wyoming".  Built  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Oregon  Trail  Commission  July  6.  1920. 
With  nothing  else  available,  the  marker  was 
made  from  the  top  of  a  box  of  canned  goods. 
the  lettering  with  the  end  of  a  match  and  ink. 
This  temporary  inscription  was  replaced  by  a 
stone  tablet  by  Captain  Nickerson.  September. 
1920. 


38 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


Mrs.  William  H.  Bright.  Through  the  influence  of  Mrs.  Bright  and  Mrs. 
Morris,  Colonel  Bright,  as  he  was  called,  introduced  and  successfully  championed 
a  bill  in  Wyoming's  first  legislature  for  woman  suffrage.  This  bill  became  a  law 
on  December  1  0,  1  869,  when  Governor  John  A.  Campbell  signed  the  document. 

Judge  Morris  held  her  court  of  justice  most  of  the  time  in  her  little  log 
cabin  home  on  Willow  Creek,  where  she  rendered  seventy  legal  decisions,  no  one 
of  which  was  reversed  when  taken  to  a  higher  court  on  appeal.  July  6,  1920, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Oregon  Trail  Commission  visited  the  almost  deserted  village 
of  South  Pass,  with  a  view  of  marking  the  site  of  the  office  of  Justice  Morris. 
With  the  assistance  of  Mrs.  Janet  Smith,  who  arrived  in  South  Pass  City  before 
the  feverish  days  of  gold  mines,  in  1867,  and  who  has  continually  since  then 
resided  there,  the  site  of  the  small  cabin 
was  located  at  which  a  stone  cairn  was 
erected  by  the  Secretary  and  the  less  than 
two  score  of  people  who  then  made  their 
homes  in  this  ghost  city.  It  was  in  this 
home  that  woman's  suffrage  in  Wyoming 
had  its  birth.  It  was  here  that  William 
Bright  had  promised  to  introduce  a  suff- 
rage bill  if  he  should  be  elected  to  the 
first  territorial  legislature.  The  many 
stones  collected  for  the  monument  to  be 
erected  to  the  memory  of  the  Mother  of 
Woman  Suffrage  in  Wyoming  were  taken 
from  the  foundations  of  important  build- 
ings, as  the  first  church,  first  school  house, 
the  first  bank,  the  first  post  office,  the 
office  of  Colonel  Bright,  the  home  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Bright,  the  office  of  Mrs. 
Morris,  erected  during  the  active  days  of 
the  camp. 

Captain  Nickerson  fashioned  and  placed  on  the  cairn  in  cement  a  stone 
tablet  bearing  the  following  inscription: 

SITE  OF  OFFICE 

AND  HOME  OF 

ESTHER  MORRIS 

FIRST  WOMAN  JUSTICE 

OF  THE  PEACE.    AUTHOR  OF 

FEMALE  SUFFRAGE 

IN 
WYOMING 


Tne   Esther  Morris  cairn  and  tablet,  marking  the 

,,porta|  of  riberiy,,m    (The  tab,et  is  not  in 

Place,   as  it  is  to   be  embedded   in  cement   in 
the  side  of  the  marker.) 


(The  act  granting  suffrage  to  woman  in  Wyoming  in  1  869  bears  the  title 
"Female  Suffrage",  hence  that  phraseology  on  the  marker.) 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL. 


39 


THE  BOZEMAN  ROAD 

When  gold  was  found  in  the  early  six- 
ties in  Southwestern  Montana  there  was 
no  direct  road  into  the  camp  for  those 
who  came  from  the  East  to  dig  for  the 
precious  metal.  There  was  the  river 
route  up  the  Missouri,  the  one  utilized 
by  Lewis  and  Clark  in  1804-06;  then 
there  was  the  Oregon  Trail  via  the  North 
Platte,  South  Pass  and  Kort  Bridger; 
and  the  Overland  Route  by  Denver,  La 
Porte,  Laramie  Plains,  Bridger  Pass  and 
Fort  Bridger.  At  this  fort  the  two  roads 
united  and  became  one,  which  went 
to  Salt  Lake  and  North  to  Fort  Hall 
(Idaho).  From  Hall  there  were  three 
roads,  one  to  the  Southwest  to  Califor- 
nia, one  to  the  Northwest  to  Oregon,  and 
one  directly  North  to  the  Virginia  (Mon- 
tana) gold  camps.  The  Oregon  Trail 
and  the  Overland  Route,  as  was  the  road 
up  the  Missouri,  were  too  long  and  cir- 
cuitous for  the  eager  and  impatient  emi- 
grants seeking  fortunes  in  gold. 

To  meet  the  difficulty  of  no  direct 
road  to  Montana,  the  Bozeman  Trail, 
or  Road,  was  established.  This  road 
in  Wyoming  ran  Northwest  from  Fort 
Laramie,  then  East  of  the  Big  Horn 
Mountains  between  the  North  Platte  and 
Parkman  near  the  boundary  between 
Montana  and  Wyoming.  The  road  was 
along  the  South  side  of  the  Platte  until  it  reached  Bridger's  ferry,  near  the  present 
Orin  Junction  in  Converse  County.  Most  any  place  between  Douglas  and  Casper 
the  road  branched  off  to  the  North,  though  after  1867  the  leaving  point  was 
opposite  the  site  of  Fort  Fetterman.  When  the  road  reached  what  is  now  Mon- 
tana it  went  Northwest  to  the  Big  Horn  River,  where  was  established  in  1866 
Fort  C.  F.  Smith,  from  which  fort  the  trail  ran  to  the  West,  several  miles  South  of 
the  Yellowstone.  When  this  river  was  crossed  near  the  present  city  of  Livingston, 
the  trail  went  through  Bozeman  Pass  and  then  Southwest  into  the  Beaverhead 
Valley  mining  district. 

The  land  from  the  North  Platte  to  Fort  C.  F.  Smith  was  the  cherished  and 
coveted  home  and  hunting  ground  of  the  Sioux,  who,  under  Chief  Red  Cloud 
and  his  warriors,  determined  that  no  white  man  should  invade  their  territory. 
The  Indian  wars  along  the  Bozeman  Trail  were  the  most  savage,  continuous  and 
unrelenting  of  any  fought  on  the  Western  plains,  a  contest  for  supremacy  between 
the  redman  and  his  enemy,  the  invading  white  man. 


PIONEERS  OF  THE  BOZEMAN  TRAIL 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  Orr  Willits,  who  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1881  traversed  almost  the  entire  length 
of  the  Bozeman  Trail  in  Wyoming,  settled  in 
Sheridan  County  and  lived  continuously  for 
forty  years  on  the  same  building  site.  Mr. 
Willits  was  a  member  of  the  school  board 
that  built  the  first  school  house  in  Sheridan. 
Vie  Willits  Barber  (Mrs.  A.  L.).  daughter  of 
the  pioneers,  made  possible  the  accurate 
marking  of  the  Bozeman  Trail  by  her  ex- 
tended and  painstaking  survey  of  the  old  road 
from  Fort  Reno  on  the  Powder  River  to  Park- 
man, near  the  Northern  boundary  of  Wyo 
ming. 


40  THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


To  protect  the  emigrants  and  freight  teams  going  over  the  Bozeman  Road, 
the  Government  established  three  forts  along  its  route,  an  act  that  Red  Cloud 
believed  broke  the  existing  treaty  between  his  tribe  and  our  Government.  The 
most  Southern  fort  was  called  at  first  Fort  Connor,  built  in  1  865  (near  Sussex, 
Johnson  County,  on  the  Northwest  side  of  the  Powder  River).  This  fort  was 
enlarged  in  July,  1  866,  by  General  Carrington  and  renamed  Fort  Reno. 

The  monument  that  marks  the  site  of  old  Fort  Reno  (originally  called,  in 
1865,  Fort  Connor)  is  in  Johnson  County  on  the  Northwest  side  of  the  Powder 
River,  the  stone  being  on  a  cement  base,  a  gift  of  the  County  Commissioners. 

FORT  RENO 

U.  S.  MILITARY  POST 

ESTABLISHED 

AUG.  14,  1865 

ABANDONED 

AUG.  18,  1868. 

THIS  MONUMENT 

IS  ERECTED  BY  THE 

STATE  OF  WYOMING 

AND  THE 

CITIZENS  OF 

JOHNSON  COUNTY 

1914 

When  Gen.  H.  B.  Carrington  enlarged  Fort  Reno  and  fortified  the  post 
with  U.  S.  soldiers,  the  warriors  gave  notice  that  any  other  fortification  North  of 
Reno  would  be  burned  and  the  soldiers  guarding  the  post  would  be  killed,  be- 
cause the  act  of  building  forts  in  the  Powder  River  country  was  a  direct  violation 
of  standing  treaties.  In  July,  1  866,  an  unusually  fine  fort  was  established,  regard- 
less of  Red  Cloud's  warning,  on  the  Piney,  Northwest  of  Buffalo  in  Johnson 
County.  This  fort,  called  Phil  Kearney,  was  the  headquarters  for  General 
Carrington  and  his  handful  of  men  during  the  next  eighteen  months,  and  for  the 
commanding  officer  who  took  General  Carrington's  command  in  January,  1867, 
until  August,  1  868.  From  the  time  of  the  first  survey  of  the  land  on  which  was 
to  be  erected  the  post,  the  fortification  was  in  a  constant  state  of  siege,  the  Indians 
looking  upon  the  structure  as  a  sign  of  usurpation.  As  a  consequence,  the  red 
man  missed  no  opportunity  to  try  and  destroy  the  hated  fort  and  kill  the  soldiers, 
some  with  families,  who  guarded  Fort  Phil  Kearney,  the  Bozeman  trail,  Fort 
Reno,  and  Fort  C.  F.  Smith. 

On  December  21,  1 866,  Captain  William  Fetterman  and  eighty  men, 
two  of  them  civilians,  engaged  in  battle  with  the  Sioux,  near  "Massacre  Hill", 
a  short  distance  North  and  West  of  Phil  Kearney.  In  this  uneven  struggle,  for 
the  Indians  numbered  in  the  thousands,  Fetterman's  entire  force  was  annihilated, 
no  one  being  left  to  tell  of  the  conflict. 

A  monument  to  mark  the  site  of  this  battle  has  been  erected,  as  previously 
stated.  There  have  been  but  few  battles  of  the  world  from  which  there  were  no 
survivors.  From  the  lips  of  no  white  man  has  come  the  story  of  that  conflict  with 
Red  Cloud's  warriors  on  the  fateful  day  of  December  21,1  866.  The  Indians 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL  4 1 


were  for  years  very  secretive  about  their  great  fight  and  victory,  though  now  we 
have  detailed  accounts  of  the  battle  from  several  of  the  braves  fighting  at 
"massacre  hill". 

Three  stones  for  the  Bozeman  Trail  in  Converse  County  were  transported  by 
Hon.  William  Irvine  in  1916  to  the  site  of  old  Fort  Fetterman;  to  the  fork  of  the 
trail  that  leads  to  Flynn's  ranch  on  Antelope  Creek,  and  one  to  Ogallala  ranch  on 
Little  Wind  River.  These  roads  branch  from  the  old  Bozeman  Trail  on  the 
extreme  top  of  the  divide  between  Sand  and  Antelope  Creeks,  where  is  obtained  a 
broad  view  of  the  North,  with  Pumpkin  Buttes  in  the  distance,  and  a  splendid 
view  to  the  South,  with  the  breaks  of  the  North  Platte  River  in  the  distance  and 
Laramie  Peak  in  plain  view  further  on.  The  third  stone  is  near  the  Johnson- 
Converse  County  line. 

The  Bozeman  stones  when  placed  are  three  feet  above  the  ground,  set  two 
feet  in  the  ground,  one  and  a  half  wide  and  one  foot  thick,  all  being  marked: 

BOZEMAN  TRAIL 

MARKED  BY  THE 

STATE  OF  WYOMING 

1913 

Eight  stone  posts  were  sent  to  Johnson  and  Sheridan  Counties,  all  marked 
"Bozeman  Trail",  to  trace  the  old  trail  from  Fort  Fetterman  to  the  Montana 
boundary.  Four  of  these  markers  are  in  both  Sheridan  and  Johnson  Counties. 

The  Bozeman  markers  in  Sheridan  County  were  placed  by  the  County  Com- 
missioners and  the  Sheridan  Chapter  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, at  Big  Horn  City,  SW!4,  SW'/i.  Sec.  4,  T.  54,  R.  84;  at  the  settlement 
of  Beckton,  in  the  SE!4,  NW'/i  of  Sec.  1  7,  T.  55,  R.  85;  one  in  the  town 
of  Dayton  in  the  NEJ4,  NWJ4,  Sec.  32,  T.  57,  R.  86,  and  one  on  the  ranch 
of  Mr.  E.  L.  Dana,  of  Parkman,  in  the  NW'/i,  NW!4  of  Sec.  22,  T.  58,  R. 
87,  thus  marking  the  old  trail  in  this  county  from  its  Southern  to  its  Northern 
boundaries. 

Besides  the  monument  marking  the  site  of  Fort  Reno,  there  are  in  Johnson 
County  four  stones,  one  at  Trabing,  Sec.  36,  T.  48,  R.  81  ;  one  on  the  Dry 
Fork  of  Powder  River  crossing.  Sec.  33,  Tp.  44,  R.  77.  The  stone  marking 
the  site  of  Fort  Reno  was  for  a  number  of  years  at  a  point  ten  and  a  half  miles 
South  of  Sec.  36,  T.  43,  R.  81.  of  the  place  where  the  old  fort  was  established. 
The  fort's  site  is  very  inaccessible  by  automobile,  parties  having  to  ford  the 
Powder  in  order  to  reach  the  location,  while  where  the  stone  was  originally  placed 
many  people  daily  passed  the  spot.  It  was  thought,  however,  that  the  exact  site 
of  Reno  should  be  marked.  Hon.  L.  R.  A.  Condit,  of  Barnum,  had  the  stone 
removed  and  placed  on  the  proper  site  and  the  two  Bozeman  Trail  markers  placed 
on  the  highway  during  the  last  days  of  September,  1920. 

In  September,  1 920,  a  simple  granite  marker,  not  a  monument,  was  placed 
by  the  State  on  the  site  of  old  Fort  Phil  Kearney,  the  property  of  Mr.  Geier. 
bearing  the  following  inscription : 


42  THE  OREGON  TRAIL 

SITE  OF 

FORT 

PHIL  KEARNEY 
JULY  13,  1866,  TO  AUGUST,  1868 

MARKED  BY  THE 

STATE  OF  WYOMING 

1920 


THE  WAGON  BOX  FIGHT 

The  soldiers  of  Fort  Phil  Kearney  were  ever  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to 
avenge  the  death  of  their  comrades  of  the  Fetterman  battle.  Their  long  hoped 
for  chance  came  on  August  2,  1867,  when  occurred  the  Wagon  Box  fight  about 
six  miles  west  of  the  fortification  on  the  Piney.  Woodchoppers  had  been  sent 
during  the  last  days  of  July  into  the  Big  Horn  mountains  to  the  West  to  obtain 
logs  for  lumber  for  building  and  for  fire  wood.  To  guard  this  handful  of  men, 
soldiers  were  detailed  to  protect  the  wood  road  from  the  mountains  to  Fort  Phil 
Kearney.  On  a  slightly  elevated  tract  of  land  the  soldiers,  twenty-eight  in  num- 
ber, and  four  civilians,  made  a  camp,  using  the  boxes  of  fourteen  wagons,  placed 
in  an  oval,  as  a  corral.  The  wagons,  stripped  of  their  boxes,  had  been  sent  into 
the  woods,  where  the  choppers  had  a  camp.  The  soldiers  in  the  corral  were  on 
night  and  day  duty  for  fear  of  hostile  Indians. 

From  this  box  corral  the  thirty-two  men  under  the  command  of  Captain 
James  Powell,  on  August  2,  1867,  fought  for  seven  hours  against  Red  Cloud 
and  his  three  thousand  warriors.  Had  it  not  been  that  the  men  in  the  boxes  had 
most  recently  been  equipped  with  the  new  modification  of  the  Springfield  breech- 
loading  rifles,  the  fate  of  those  who  fought  in  the  Fetterman  battle  would  have 
been  repeated.  Previous  to  the  wagon  box  fight  and  in  the  Fetterman  battle,  the 
soldiers  only  had  the  old  Springfield  muzzle-loading  muskets,  the  Indians  know- 
ing nothing  about  the  superior  arms  with  which  the  wagon  box  men  were  equipped. 

During  the  fight  in  the  boxes  it  has  been  estimated  that  Red  Cloud  lost  from 
his  3,000  choice  warriors  at  least  1,137  men.  Captain  Powell  lost  one  officer, 
Lieut.  John  C.  Jenness,  and  two  privates. 

The  Oregon  Trail  Commission,  in  September,  1 920,  placed  a  granite 
marker  two  and  a  half  feet  high,  one  and  a  half  wide  and  eight  inches  thick,  with  a 
cement  base  two  feet  high,  on  the  site  of  the  great  victory  of  the  white  man  in  his 
battle  of  August  2,  1867,  the  site  having  been  located  at  the  request  of  the 
Oregon  Trail  Commission  August  2,  1919,  by  Sergeant  S.  S.  Gibson,  Omaha, 
who  was  one  of  those  who  took  part  in  the  wagon  box  fight.  Mr.  John  M. 
Hoover,  Halstead,  Kansas,  also  located,  in  September,  1920,  what  he  believes 
to  be  the  wagon  box  fight  site,  which  is  within  40  feet  of  the  spot  marked  by  Mr. 
Gibson.  Mr.  Max  Littmann,  St.  Louis,  who,  on  August  2,  1917,  visited  this 
old  battlefield  and  was  one  of  the  wagon  box  fighters,  states  that  the  wagon  box 
corral  was  about  80  feet  long  and  50  feet  wide.  This  fact  being  established, 
it  is  evident  that  both  Mr.  Gibson  and  Mr.  Hoover  have  located  the  corral  site, 
one  designating  one  portion  of  the  corral  and  the  other  another  portion  of  the 
same  enclosure.  The  site  as  now  marked  is  identical  with  that  spot  selected  by 


THE  OREGON  TRAIL 


43 


four  officially  appointed  citizens  of  Wyoming,  who  personally  visited  the  ba'.tle- 
field.     This  site  where  the  fight  occurred  is  on  land  owned  by  Mr.  Ed.  Grover. 
The  simple  stone  reads  as  follows: 

SITE 

OF  THE 

WAGON  BOX  FIGHT 

AUGUST  2.  1867 

MARKED  BY  THE 

STATE  OF  WYOMNIG 

1920 

Had  not  the  Great  War  interfered  with  the  activities  of  the  Oregon  Trail 
Commission,  many  other  markers  would  have  been  placed.  With  the  coming 
of  the  war  the  Commission  ceased  its  activities  in  recording  history  and  helped  in  a 
limited  degree  to  make  history.  Practically  no  markers  were  placed  by  the  Oregon 
Trail  Commission  from  July  21,  1 9 1  7,  to  July  4,  1 920.  The  money  appropriated 
for  the  intervening  years  was  not  spent  and  has  reverted  to  the  State  Treasury. 
There  are  many  places  in  Wyoming  that  deserve  monuments  or  markers.  A  detailed 
list  would  occupy  too  much  space  in  this  brief  report.  The  Commission,  however, 
ventures  to  suggest  a  few  places  that  were  to  be  marked  had  the  break  in  their  work 
not  occurred,  following:  Fort  Fetterman;  Bridger's  Ferry,  near  Orin  Junction, 
Converse  County;  Bridger's  Pass  and  Bridger's  Stage  Station,  both  on  the 
Overland  Route  in  Carbon  County ;  Benton,  or  Bentonville,  in  Carbon  County ; 
the  Green  River  Rendezvous  of  the  fur  men,  Sweetwater  County;  all  of  the  old 
mining  camps  and  deserted  villages;  all  of  the  old  stage  and  pony  express 
stations;  stage  routes;  the  trail  of  the  Astoria  men  in  1811  and  1812,  touching 
at  least  nine  of  our  counties ;  Whisky  Gap ;  Colter's  Route  through  Yellowstone 
National  Park;  Fremont's  Peak  in  Fremont  County;  the  Spanish  Diggings, 
Niobrara  County;  the  Medicine  Wheel,  Big  Horn-Sheridan  Counties;  the 
site  of  all  first  buildings  in  permanent  cities;  the  Teton  Mountains,  first  seen 
by  white  men,  the  outgoing  Astoria  party,  in  181  1,  over  which  the  first  airplane 
passed  on  August  25,  1920,  flying  at  an  altitude  of  over  13,000  feet  and  at  a 
speed  of  80  miles  an  hour;  many  Indian  battlegrounds  where  combats  were 
carried  on  since  1 870.  Almost  without  exception,  the  work  of  the  first  seven  years 
of  the  Oregon  Trail  Commission  has  been  devoted  to  events  that  occurred  before 
that  date. 

January  1,  1921. 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 

THE  PETER  AND  ROSELL  HARVEY 
MEMORIAL  FUND 


